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Salt River
Project’s second “open house” to explain
why the utility needs to string a new
high-voltage power line through the
Kyrene Corridor turned quickly into a
call for citizens and city officials to
hold a different kind of meeting to tell
SRP decision makers exactly where to put
the proposed line.
The tenor
of the open house changed quickly as
hundreds of residents from Tempe and
Chandler filled the library at Aprende
Middle School and began debating with
SRP representatives on the need for the
new power line, SRP’s proposed routes,
and--most of all--whether the line
should be strung on poles or buried.
Gil
Olachea, a longtime Tempe resident,
climbed on a chair and addressed the
more than 300 residents, complaining
that SRP was using “divide and conquer”
tactics and urging residents to unify in
opposition to the proposed line.
“We want
to be treated with respect,” he said.
Olachea
later explained that he wanted to get
the residents “talking among themselves”
rather than in small groups with SRP
officials. He called for a different
kind of meeting at which SRP “decision
makers” would hear residents’ concerns.
Chandler
Mayor Boyd Dunn and Councilman Matt
Orlando quickly agreed, promising to
work with Tempe officials to set up such
a meeting.
Dunn
ordered Chandler officials to begin
posting information about the power line
on the city’s website,
www.chandleraz.gov.
Information about the SRP power line
issue was posted by Friday morning.
Tempe
Mayor Hugh Hallman and Councilman Len
Copple arrived later in the two-hour
open house.
“The two
communities need to work in
partnership,” Hallman said as he talked
with Dunn.
Olachea,
who started the call for a third public
meeting on the SRP plan, said he blames
the cities more than SRP for residents’
frustration in finding out about the
utility’s plan almost too late to do
anything about it.
“SRP is
not the culprit here in my mind,” he
told Wrangler News. “I think SRP
went to the municipalities and asked for
assistance and the municipalities said
you’re on your own.”
SRP says
it needs the new 69-kilovolt power line
to serve parts of Tempe, Chandler and
Mesa before demand exceeds capacity as
soon as summer 2007.
SRP has
identified six possible routes along
which it could string the new line
between the Hanger substation near
Guadalupe and Price roads and the
Houston substation on McClintock just
north of Ray Road. Five of the six route
options use McClintock Drive, which has
no overhead power lines today.
SRP’s
corporate policy is to build new 69-kV
power lines overhead unless the affected
community agrees to pay the extra cost
to bury them. Putting 69-kV lines
underground could cost $3 million per
mile, or about 10 times the cost of
string the lines on poles, according to
SRP.
SRP showed
maps at its Nov. 16 open house of the
“Corbell” service area where it says
power demand threatens to exceed
capacity by 2007.
The
Corbell area, according to the maps
offered at the open house, is bounded
roughly by Baseline Road to the north,
Pecos Road to the south, Cooper Road to
the east and Rural Road to the west.
Numerous substations in the Corbell
area, including the Hanger and Houston
substations, receive their electricity
from the Corbell receiving station
northeast of Arizona Avenue and Elliot
Road.
SRP says
there are about 1,500 acres of
undeveloped land within the Corbell
area. Demand for electricity will grow
as that land is developed, the utility
notes.
Most of
the undeveloped land is east of Arizona
Avenue and south of Ray Road, according
to SRP’s maps and aerial photographs on
display at the open house.
Many
residents at the open house questioned
why SRP will not string the new line on
existing poles on Dobson and Ray roads.
“The poles
are there. The lines are there,” said
one woman who asked not to be
identified.
SRP
officials said using Dobson Road would
add two miles to the connection between
the Hanger and Houston substations and
might not be technically feasible
because of the type of poles and power
lines already there.
Dunn, who
said SRP’s plan to string power lines
through much of south Tempe is a
“surprise,” drew cheers from frustrated
residents when he said, “There is an
issue that would take most of our
problems away and that is undergrounding.”
“These are
issues that can only be addressed with
that condition perhaps,” Dunn said.
Residents with
questions or comments about the project
can SRP at (602) 236-2872 or send e-mail
to 69kv@srpnet.com.
To find out
more about SRP's Hanger-Houston 69-kV
project, click on
http://www.srpnet.com/electric/transmission/hangerhouston.aspx |
