CHELSEA — AT&T officials have scaled down the size and moved the location of a proposed cellphone tower intended to aid first responders and improve reception along Routes 110 and 113 in Chelsea.

The new proposal, which AT&T sent to town officials at the beginning of February, outlines a 110-foot tower that would go up behind the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on Route 113. A 100-foot tower that currently sits at the site would be removed, according to a project overview from AT&T.

The project includes six panel antennae, a generator, a storage cabinet, and an 8-foot-high chain-link fence surrounding the base of the project, the notice said.

The tower is meant to improve cellular coverage around Chelsea, with special focus on Route 110, as part of the First Responder Network Authority, also called FirstNet. AT&T is using $25 million of federal funding, as well as its own money, to erect dozens of cell towers across the state for FirstNet, a project that aims to create a national network of first responders.

AT&T has proposed a similar tower in the Thetford Town Forest, and town officials late last year approved a lease that would allow the company to rent 2,500 square feet of space within the forest.

The new Chelsea tower proposal replaces an earlier one that AT&T submitted last year for a 199-foot tower that would be set back about 1,000 feet from 11 Riverside Drive, on land owned by a Georgia-based organization, Affordable Housing America. That plan drew concern among some residents, who worried about issues like the look of the tower rising above the treetops and potential disruption to the surrounding woods.

However, the advance notice for that location expired while the company looked at alternative sites, Chelsea Planning Commission Chair Dickson Corbett said in an email Thursday.

Selectboard member Kate MacLean said she thinks the new plan is preferable, partly because it would stand only 10 feet higher than the existing tower behind the sheriff’s office. She added that the need for a cell tower and increased coverage in Chelsea is “pretty clear.”

“I understand the concern from the community about impacting the visual” look of Chelsea, she said in an interview Thursday. “I think this is a great compromise.”

AT&T held a balloon test at the site on Thursday, to assess and photograph how the height of the tower will look from the surrounding area. Once the photos and renderings of the tower are complete, MacLean said she hopes to share them with the public.

Corbett said residents will have a chance to comment on the tower at a public discussion, which will be held in about a month. Following the public hearing, Chelsea officials will make recommendations to the Vermont Public Utility Commission about whether the project complies with the town plan, Corbett said. The PUC will take the town’s recommendation, public comments and the AT&T proposal into account when deciding whether to approve the project.

The project comes on the heels of the proposed 190-foot tower in Thetford, also along the Route 113 corridor. Residents and town officials debated the look and location of the proposed tower over several meetings last year, before settling on the Town Forest, which is owned by Thetford.

In December, town officials approved a five-year lease, which would allow AT&T to rent a 2,500-square-foot space in the forest at 940 Five Corners Road, in exchange for a rent of $2,000 per-month, according to a copy of the lease.

The Selectboard is waiting for the company to “compile everything they need” before signing the lease, according to Thetford Selectboard Chairman Nick Clark. Town officials have also drafted a letter of support for the project, which the PUC will take into consideration when deciding whether to approve the plan.

AT&T spokesman Dale Ingram said the company is working with both towns on the towers but declined to comment further on the projects.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.