Council supports FirstEnergy power line project

Thursday, June 12, 2008

By Ann Wishart

Favors most expedient route to provide power

Village Council was not sidetracked last Thursday by history, legal issues, farmers' pleas or political details. In the end, council members agreed they just want FirstEnergy to get more power to Middlefield as soon as humanly possible.

After listening to an hour of arguments presented by representatives from Citizens Advocating Responsible Energy (CARE) and FirstEnergy, Councilman Scott Klein said council is responsible to the citizens and businesses of Middlefield first. In other words, which path the power line corridor must follow is not council's concern.

"Whichever route works best," Klein said. "Our best decision has got to be what's best for our community."

FirstEnergy has chosen a preferred corridor for the 138 kV transmission line that would run from the Ruth substation located next to the Geauga Park District's Maple Highlands Trail on U.S. 322 north to its main line. The purpose of the project is to supply Middlefield with electricity everyone admits is vital to the community's growth.

The 60-foot-wide corridor is planned to cross farmland on the east side of Route 528 in Huntsburg, Thompson and Montville townships. Many of the landowners along the proposed corridor have joined CARE to lobby for FirstEnergy to use other existing civil corridors for the high-tension power lines on 85-foot wooden poles.

FirstEnergy submitted its application to create the corridor along Route 528 to the Ohio Power Siting Board last September. The proposed right-of-way would plow through fields and woodlands, cut multi-generation farms in half, destroy soil structure and potentially ruin property values for future development, according to land owners living along Route 528.

Last Thursday, CARE President Jim Galm presented village council with three proposed resolutions. In the end, council rejected all three and cobbled together an alternative resolution that read, in part, that they favored a route that was "most expedient to provide power to Middlefield."

After a brief recess, council members voted to waive the readings of the proposal, declared it an emergency and unanimously passed it.

"It becomes official today," said Councilman Bill Blue.

Mayor Bill Poole, who drafted the resolution, said it is incumbent upon council to support the power line project, even though he was sympathetic to the CARE members' plight.

"It's not an easy thing," he said.

Absent from the meeting was Village Solicitor Tom Lee, who has been representing CARE in its efforts to change FirstEnergy's chosen course.

Mia Moore, FirstEnergy's area manager, said the company is carrying on with the $20-million project in response to cries from Middlefield for more power. The substation transformers that serve the area are overloaded, she said.

FirstEnergy has been using newer and newer technology to boost the voltage the community needs for 12 years, but that stop-gap method has run out.

"We've been here again and again," Moore said. "We've done all the technology boosting we can."

CARE's recent proposal that FirstEnergy run the corridor along the Maple Highlands Trail and through the City of Chardon has been met with solid opposition from Chardon officials and park board commissioners. The park district has covenants with property owners along the path that would require the park board to contest in court any attempt by FirstEnergy to use eminent domain to take land for the corridor.

"The fight would go to the Ohio Supreme Court," said Roger Schmidt, an attorney for FirstEnergy. The park board is not allowed to negotiate and the legal battle could take years to resolve.

"We're out of time to do this. We need to get this built," he said.

Schmidt projected that, even if landowners along Route 528 fight eminent domain, the process would take much less time.

Councilwoman Edna Davis acknowledged the village desperately needs the power, but objected to the company's assumption that the corridor along Route 528 is less damaging than alternative routes.

"Why is the Clay Street (alternative) not better?" she asked. Creating a corridor along Clay Street was First Energy's original preference.

"Clay Street is our alternative route," Moore said. Putting 85-foot-tall poles on residential land is problematic, however, she said. "There would be lots of vegetation management."

"A number of homes would have to be taken, at least six," Schmidt added. No homes would be sacrificed on the 528 route, he said.

FirstEnergy would not be buying the land, Schmidt emphasized, only taking an easement for access. The property will still belong to the farmers and property owners, who will have the use of it around the poles.

Mike Youshak, who has been working his family's Huntsburg Township farm for decades, said the use of heavy equipment to put up the poles, string the wire and maintain the lines would destroy the soil structure, reducing productivity. He also pointed out the corridor is intentionally routed through productive land.

"If there is a field to be entered, they are in it," Youshak said.

He also noted a number of businesses in Middlefield have closed or downsized recently, including Johnson Rubber and Kraftmaid, so the area shouldn't need as much power and perhaps the corridor isn't necessary now.

Moore responded that Johnson Rubber took only three to four megawatts of power out of the 80 supplied by FirstEnergy.

"We still have a 76-megawatt need," she said.