Cumberland County officials are pleased to announce the completion of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Grant award project which began in February 2012, when Cumberland County was awarded a DHS Grant in the amount of $235,000.00 to purchase and install a new 190 foot radio tower at the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center (CCRCC) in Windham.
“This has been a very long but important project,” said CCRCC Director Bill Holmes. “The radio tower and associated radio antennas will provide the Public Safety agencies we serve, including the County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), with improved radio clarity and transmissions.”
Since receiving the grant award in 2012, the CCRCC has had to clear many obstacles and hurdles along the way. Installation of the new tower required authorization from Federal agencies including the FAA and FCC. Cumberland County was required to hire expert consultants to ensure that the tower would not violate environmental laws such as interrupting migratory bird flights, would not cause excessive noise and would not be installed on ancient burial grounds.
Approval from the State of Maine to build the tower had to be sought, as tower construction requires a 110% fall zone clearance and the tower fall zone is in State owned land. State of Maine officials entered into a land easement agreement with Cumberland County, allowing use of the State land as the fall zone for the new tower.
In addition to adding 23 new public safety radio antennas, the tower was designed and built with enough capacity to allow for several additional radio and cellular antennas as needed.
“Cumberland County appreciates the opportunity to work with State and Federal agencies on these important Homeland Security projects,” Holmes said. “This is a very important public safety project which will benefit all of our communities.”
For more information contact Bill Holmes, Cumberland County Regional Communications Center Director, at 892-6785 or holmes@cumberlandcounty.org.