MANCHESTER -- Paul Wade, a Manchester veterinarian whose land would sprout a proposed cell tower, is a huge proponent of the project, saying it will vastly improve cell phone coverage in Augusta, Manchester, Mount Vernon and elsewhere.

Jim Pelsor, an architect who works next door to Wade's Cat Hospital, is a vocal opponent, claiming the tower would improve coverage only along the Interstate 95 corridor -- not in other, more local, low-lying places.

The two represent both sides of a legal dispute that could be settled by voters at a special town meeting Tuesday at Manchester Elementary School. Residents will be asked if they want to accept a consent agreement that would end a federal lawsuit and allow the tower.

They also will be asked to impose a six-month moratorium on applications for new cell towers while the town reviews its ordinance.

Under the consent agreement voters are asked to approve, MCF Communications Inc., would erect a 130-foot, monopole cellular tower on Pelton Hill just off Western Avenue.

MCF would pay up to $15,000 of the town's legal costs, put in landscape buffers, mount the antennae internally and paint it to camouflage the installation.

The company filed a lawsuit after its proposal for a 150-foot tower at the same site was rejected by the town Planning Board.

Wade, who lives in Manchester near Augusta Country Club, said the idea is to improve cell phone coverage in the town.

"I have dropped calls all the time," he said. "I've been approached by dozens of people and a lot of business owners on U.S. Route 202. They all say the same thing."

Pelsor disagrees and opposes the proposed settlement.

"This tower's location is not about Manchester; it's all about the (Interstate) 95 corridor, and I think the studies show that," he said.

He said he and his wife live in Manchester near the Winthrop town line and have fine cell phone reception with two different carriers.

ConnectME -- a Web site of the Maine Public Advocate's office that lists cell phone coverage "dead zones" -- shows no complaints in the Manchester area.

John Osborn, the attorney representing MCF, said AT&T and Verizon are the two major carriers that intend to use the tower.

Wade said the proposed deal would be a lease agreement in which MCF would pay him a fee to keep the cell tower on his land. He declined to disclose the sum of the lease arrangement.

Selectmen who met Tuesday night decided against taking a position on the matter. Town Manager Mark Doyon said they indicated they may give their individual opinions the town meeting.

Terri Watson, chairman of the board, said she personally opposes the deal.

"I would urge the townspeople to reject the consent agreement," Watson said. "My feeling is that the FCC gave local communities control for good reason, that the Planning Board did their job well, and, from the onset, our ordinance was clear and the application for the tower was not rejected due to a minor technicality."

Watson said the people adopted the ordinance and can choose to defend it.

"The reason why I'm OK with sending this to a special town meeting is because of the significant expense that may be involved with defending this in court," she said.

The town's attorney, Stephen Langsdorf, has said court costs could run up to $40,000.

"I don't think communities should be intimidated by big-money interests bullying their way through a process," Watson said.

Selectman Elaine Fuller said she's not as vehemently opposed to the tower as others in town, but would have preferred an alternate site.

She declined to give her opinion on the proposed settlement.

"I want to know what the voters want us to do," she said.

Selectman Jeremy Pare said he plans to vote to reject a settlement that would allow a tower to rise 30 feet above the town's currently allowable maximum height.

"Our job as selectmen is to uphold the ordinances of the town," he said on Thursday. "I believe that's really important to preserve that local control aspect."

He said he, too, was concerned about the legal fees the town could amass.

"In my mind, MCF has made it very clear that if townspeople say 'No,' they will go forward with that lawsuit."

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com