ENFIELD — A Massachusetts company hopes to expand cell service around Mascoma Lake by building a 190-foot tower on a hill near Route 4.

Vertex Towers, which builds and operates communications towers throughout the country, filed an application late last month requesting Enfield’s permission to construct a structure capable of accommodating “at least five” carriers on a 68-acre property on Morhouse Lane.

Those carriers could include some of the country’s largest wireless providers, including Verizon and AT&T, according to documents submitted to the town.

Rhode Island attorney Francis Parisi, who represents Vertex, said Friday that the tower is intended to fill a hole in wireless service that starts around the intersection of routes 4A and 4 in Lebanon and extends down both sides of Mascoma Lake.

If all goes to plan, he said, the tower should provide service to homes and commuters along both state roads, as well as most of Enfield Village.

Rob Taylor, Enfield’s land use and community development administrator, said he notices the “dead zone” frequently while driving between Lebanon and Enfield. The loss of coverage is particularly bad in the valleys between the two communities, he said.

“Everybody that travels in that area with a cell phone realizes it,” he said. “That’s a place you just can’t make a call.”

Vertex would require one special exception and two variances from the Enfield Zoning Board before it could start work. The board is expected to start its review on April 13.

The special exception would allow the company to build a tower in the town’s residential district, while the two variances would permit it to build more than 10 feet above the tree canopy and within 1.5 miles of another communications tower.

Taylor said the 10-foot regulation is “outdated” and Enfield planners were considering removing it from the town’s zoning ordinance.

“The trees are growing,” he said, adding that 10-foot clearance could disappear over several years, essentially making a tower obsolete.

Taylor also is not concerned about the other facility, located in Lebanon, saying it appears to have been set up in the early days of cable television and doesn’t seem to be operating anymore.

Parisi, the Vertex attorney, said he’s not yet sure when the tower would be operational, if it’s approved by the Zoning Board.

Plans show it would be accessed by an existing driveway at the start of Morhouse Lane, with maintenance staff visiting once or twice a month. The tower itself would be fenced in.

“The installation will not require the addition of any new parking or loading spaces,” according to Vertex’s application.

While the parcel itself is heavily wooded, with power lines running through a portion, it’s also surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Three homes line Morhouse Lane to its east, while a handful of properties abut it along Route 4 to the west.

Sandy Lea, who lives on Morhouse Lane, said Friday that she’s still studying the tower proposal and hopes to discuss it with her neighbors ahead of the board hearing.

In its application, Vertex says the tower would be made out of non-reflective steel to mitigate neighbors’ views “as much as possible.” The company added that there’s a “substantial vegetative buffer” between the tower site and neighbors and is set back from the roadway.

The Vertex also said it analyzed 23 other sites, mostly in Enfield and Canaan, but couldn’t find another location as well suited for a cell tower.

In many of those cases, the landowner wasn’t interested hosting a tower, the parcel didn’t reach a high enough elevation or was too far away to cover the same service gaps as Vertex’s current proposal.

The Enfield Zoning Board will begin its review of the tower project at 7 p.m. on April 13. A link to the meeting can be found under the agendas tab at Enfield.nh.us/zoning-board-adjustment.