HARPSWELL

Islanders say the placement of new utility poles along the western side of Route 24 is ruining the view of Long Reach Marsh and Card Cove.

Residents and town officials are looking into what can be done to change the poles’ location. A meeting has been set between the town and Central Maine Power Co. to determine if there can be a compromise.

Utility officials say approximately 100 new poles need to be installed, and must be set close together to accommodate larger wires that meet “21st-century standards,” a CMP spokesperson said.

The issue was raised during a Board of Selectmen meeting Thursday, when resident John Boomer objected to CMP plans to plant new poles on the waterview side of Route 24.

“We’re not trying to stop them from upgrading the lines, we appreciate that all of the existing poles are old and getting rotten and need to be replaced,” Boomer said. “But telephone poles these days are used for a lot more than telephone wires. Right now the poles are naked, but once they bring in the three-phase power and the cable television and whatever else, the view will get really cluttered.”

Town Administrator Kristi Eiane said CMP had not notified the town of plans to move the poles and that the town didn’t learn of it until several poles already had been installed. She has since been in contact with CMP, and meetings between the town and utility have tentatively been scheduled for this week.

She and others hope to persuade the utility to reconsider before many more poles are installed.

When the town adopted its Open Space Plan in March 2009, one of its key tenets was preservation of natural scenic vistas. One of the maps in the plan contains a photo of Long Reach, dated 1987, where the disputed poles now stand.

A Harpswell Land Trust “community viewpoints” survey completed in April reinforced the town’s attitude toward keeping its viewsheds.

Unfortunately, according to CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice, it’s not merely a question of what looks the nicest. The focus has to be on logistics.

The new poles will need to be closer together because they will be strung with bigger wire, Rice said.

“What’s important for people to understand is, this is something this area badly needs for reliability of service,” Rice said. “We’re trying to reduce the frequency and degree of outages for our customers.

“When poles were on the opposite side of Route 24, we couldn’t necessarily get to them with a bucket truck, which means our guys had to climb poles manually,” she added. “That adds a degree of risk and takes much longer to work on, which means that outages are longer for customers.”

However, there may be some room for compromise.

Town and utility officials tentatively have scheduled talks for this week, hoping to find common ground.

“It’s hard,” Rice said. “I can understand the concerns about the view, because now there will be poles there and before there weren’t. But I can’t stress strongly enough that this is a project to make the line stronger and more reliable.”