LEWISTON — Central Maine Power will lower its new lines in some places to accommodate LifeFlight’s helicopters, the Planning Board agreed Monday.

Members of the board voted 3-2 to let CMP reduce the height of several power transmission poles along the Androscoggin River from downtown north to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Board members Paul Madore and Michael Marcotte argued the lines should be buried for about three-quarters of a mile.

“I agree with the fact that we need this power,” Madore said. “I’m not willing to forego the line. Put it in the ground, and get on with it. Bring it to Lewiston and give us the power we need, but respect our citizens and the legitimate concerns they have.”

Project Manager John Kayser, of Burns and McDonnell Engineers, said work on the lines and a downtown substation should begin in August.

It’s all part of CMP’s $1.4 billion Maine Power Reliability Program and several years worth of construction, erecting 442 miles of transmission lines across 75 Maine cities and towns.

In Lewiston, the program will bring more electricity downtown. A 115-kilovolt transmission line will connect the new Larrabee Road substation to a yet-to-be built downtown substation on Middle Street, at the foot of the Great Falls.

That 115-kilovolt line will run from Middle Street north along the Pan Am Railway line to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, where it will cross the river to Auburn and continue north. It crosses back into Lewiston at Gulf Island and continues on to the Larrabee Road substation.

The plan was approved at the city level in 2011 before going to the Maine Public Utilities Commission and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

The plan has changed slightly since 2011, City Planner David Hediger said.

“The project really has not changed, in the sense that it is the same transmission size, 115 kilovolts,” he said. “Part of the difference is the structure types. They were going to be single poles, but now they will be shorter, H-frame structures.”

Hediger said the shorter poles were to comply with the flight path of Central Maine Medical Center’s LifeFlight air ambulance. Monday’s approval would reduce three poles from about 70 feet to about 67, 64 and 46 feet. The remaining poles would stay between 85 and 100 feet tall.

“They needed to change those structures somewhat and put on (Federal Aviation Administration) warning lights,” he said.

But neighbors and property owners along the route objected.

Doug Stone of 8 Bridge St. is concerned about radiation and that lines would run along Pan Am’s tracks and near the Amerigas propane storage facility at 45 Riverside St. He imagined what would happen if a train derailed into the power poles and the propane tanks.

“I hope this panel won’t be looked down (on) in 10 years, after that train blows up that Amerigas,” he said. “We’ll say ‘Who made that decision? Why did they let a power line go over a freaking gas company?’ “

Kayser said the lines would be designed to shut down in 10 milliseconds if they collapsed. Burying the lines would multiply costs of the project tenfold, since lines would have to be buried in concrete-lined vaults. That expense would be passed along to ratepayers and would require approval by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. That could delay the work for another two years.

Board member Pauline Gudas supported CMP’s project.

“If we are going to accept development in this city, we need to make some changes and sometimes that can be painful,” she said.

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