Loring Development Authority will start contract with U.S. Air Force
LIMESTONE, Maine — The LDA board recently gave President Carl Flora authority to enter into a contract with the U.S. Air Force for a project that would involve a 100-foot antenna tower designed to monitor the ionosphere.
The state of the ionosphere can have notable effects on the quality of both military and civilian communication systems, and affects radio signals, which can impact radar, satellite communications, and GPS error compensation.
“Ideally, they would like to install it near the DFAS center,” said Flora. “At this point and time, they have not determined where they want to place the antennas, but in either case it requires us to provide them with somewhere between one half and four acres.”
The board president provided a drawing which delineated two possibilities: one would involve a support facility placed next to the 100-foot antenna and the other involves the facility being built adjacent to the DFAS parking lot.
While no final decisions have been made, it is likely that one of the two options will end up occurring. If the facility is built on Maine National Guard land, then the deal will mostly be between them and the AFWA. If it is built near DFAS, then the LDA would have to negotiate the land-lease arrangement.
“I’ve suggested one thing we might do is to amend our agreement with DFAS and have them pay us a lump sum for the four acres,” said Flora,” and we are contemplating that. At this point, there are multiple scenarios and negotiations, but it involves a few acres of land and not a tremendous amount of money.”
Board member Doug Damon asked how close the antenna would be in relation to the runway.
“It’s a couple miles away,” said Flora. “Anything that extends 150 feet above runway elevation is considered an obstruction, and this would be considerably under that.”
