While many South Portland residents have shied of late at the spectre of 70-foot-tall smokestacks at the Portland Pipe Line pier, another tall order – in this case, a 95-foot-tall cellphone tower on the South Portland High School campus – is getting a similarly cool response.

In an Oct. 22 memo to the South Portland Board of Education, the school department’s director of facilities and grounds, Russ Brigham, recommended approval of the project. Brigham added that High School Principal Ryan Caron and Athletic Director Todd Livingston also have signed off on the proposal.

However, at a workshop session Monday, the school board considered a presentation by AT&T Mobility consultant Peter Cooke with what could only be described as a minimum of enthusiasm.

“I don’t know if this is a proposition that’s going to be easily explained to parents, or that’s even worth the effort,” said school board member Tappan Fitzgerald.

According to a Sept. 19 letter from Cook, the telecommunications giant would pay an annual ground rent of $21,600 (at $1,800 per month) for the right to erect its tower in place of an existing light pole, next to the bleachers at Martin Memorial Field. The tower would be connected via underground cabling to a 12-by-24-foot utility shed AT&T would access via Nutter Road.

The proposed contract would be for five years, with four additional five-year renewals. AT&T would not sublet space on its pole to any other wireless carriers, said Cooke, although the school department would be bound to the four contract renewal periods.

“We need to know that we can be at a location for a long time,” said Cooke, pointing out that AT&T wants to be on the school site both to enhance data coverage in the area, but also to pass traffic along the nine antennas that would top the new pole it would erect, to its other South Portland towers, including one to go up within the next 60-90 days at the Western Fire Station.

AT&T is paying $2,400 per month for that location, said Clark. However, that’s because the city built the infrastructure there on which the phone giant will attach its equipment. AT&T will build and maintain all equipment at Martin Field, he said, meaning the company will be paying for a land lease only.

“All costs for the design, permitting, construction, insurance liability and ongoing operating costs for the facility would be borne by AT&T Mobility,” wrote Cooke, adding that rent for that land will increase 3 percent per year, he said.

Even so, few on the school board seemed impressed.

“I’m not going to vote to give away a piece of our land for cheap money,” said James Gilboy.

His fellow board member, Sara Goldberg, wondered aloud how parents might react to the cellphone tower going up next to the brand-new high school, still under construction.

“Why do this? What’s the point? For $20,000, I don’t think I can keep a straight face and use that as an explanation,” agreed his fellow board member, Sara Goldberg.

“I’m going to put the money stuff aside, I’m more concerned about the safety issues,” said Richard Matthews.

In his proposal, Cooke provided the school board with links to reports by the Federal Communications Commission and the American Cancer Society attesting to the safety of cell phone towers.

“The FCC has pointed out that the possibilities are remote that a person could be exposed to RF [radio frequency] levels that exceed their guidelines,” he wrote. “In addition, the ACS affirms the FCC’s conclusion, stating that, ‘At ground level near typical cellular base stations, the amount of RF energy is thousands of times less than the limits for safe exposure set by the FCC and other regulating authorities.’”

Having read those reports, school board member Mary House remained dubious.

“What bothers me is that I don’t think you or anyone else can stand up and say, ‘I guarantee 100 percent that there are no health effects from this,’” she told Cooke. “I just don’t know if that kind of information is out there.”

Although Cooke said the energy put off by the tower array would be no greater than what already exists on many hospitals and office buildings in southern Maine, board Chairman Rich Carter questioned the wisdom of AT&T placing its equipment directly over the main grandstand and Martin Field, where up to 3,000 people could be seated for hours at a time.

The board agreed to have Cook return with additional data on how the RF energy diminishes with distance from a specific location. That location, they agreed, will be on the far side of Martin Field from the bleachers, if the project does move forward.

“I don’t know,” said Carter. “I’m not so sure the difference between the risk and the reward, at $20,000, is worth it.”

If the cellphone tower ever gets out of workshop and on the agenda of a regular school board meeting the project would have to go before the South Portland Planning Board. Because Martin Field is in a residential zone, the City Council also would have to approve a special change, although it cannot countermand any school board decision, to do a deal with AT&T, or not.