The Boothbay Board of Selectmen will consider entering into a consent agreement with a telecommunications firm to settle a lawsuit. The selectmen will discuss settling the pending litigation filed Mariner Tower II, LLC.

The Kennebunk-based firm filed a lawsuit last March following the board of appeals decision to deny a variance.

The selectmen will review the terms of the consent agreement on Wednesday night, Nov. 12.

The agreement was prepared by the town’s attorney Sally Daggett of the Portland law firm Jensen, Baird, Gardner and Henry law. 

The agreement allows Mariner Tower to build a 120-foot cell tower in East Boothbay.

Daggett and Boothbay Town Manager James Chaousis are recommending that the selectmen approve the consent agreement. The two believe Boothbay would likely lose the lawsuit.

Mariner Tower claims the board of appeals’ decisions to twice deny variances violates the U.S. Communications Act of 1996. The federal law states if the town prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting telecommunication towers, then it’s a violation.

According to Chaousis, the board of appeals’ decisions based on the local ordinance has that specific effect.

“Our attorney and I believe they have a very good case,” Chaousis wrote in this week’s town manager’s report. “If the town were to fight the case we would likely lose and accumulate up to $200,000 in legal fees and still end up with the tower.”

The agreement would allow the cell tower constructed on Lucy Ann Spaulding’s property located off Route 96 near Ocean Point Road.

Mariner Tower filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland in March after the board of appeals denied a variance to build the structure.

The firm amended the lawsuit in October after a second variance in an alternative location was denied. The selectmen will meet at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the municipal room.