Planning Commission Minutes 2000 04 11

Home Browse Search

Staff Report of Facts and Issues: Mr. Wood presented the details of this matter as stated in the Staff report. Mr. Wood submitted to the Planning Commission a packet of email responses that were received March 27, 2000, through April 11, 2000. The responses cover a number of issues and concerns raised within the messages. Those concerns particularly regarding the wildlife, health concerns, visual impacts, the placing of the poles, the undergrounding of the facility, what the actual increase in electrical loads will be, the impact on property values and who will receive the benefits from the service and who receives those impacts. th A document was submitted to Staff on April 10 from Centera Health and Avista Hospital with four alternatives for re-routing. Staff has not responded to these alternatives in any formal way. One of the alternatives would be to take the line south of Dillon all the way down to US 36 and then run parallel to US 36 rather than through the Coal Creek Filing 3 or StorageTek. The other two alternatives reflect re-routing of the route that essentially bisects the Health Park Campus diagonal. This would primarily be for the purpose of clearing a better flight path for medical evacuation and response to the hospital. The Staff would ask to accept the packet into the record. Commission Questions: Commissioner Kalish asked Paul Wood to explain what the current voltage is that goes through the lines. Mr. Wood stated that the application indicated that there would be a heavier demand on the central structure. The kilovolts will remain the same at 115. Mr. Wood deferred to the applicant. Commissioner Kalish also asked how far the lines are from Coal Creek and Fireside Elementary Schools. Mr. Wood stated that there are playing fields immediately adjacent, in both cases, to the right-of-way. Commissioner Lipton asked if there is anything that is governing outside of the municipality in terms of state or federal law. Mr. Wood stated that there are no laws that he is aware of at this time. Mr. Lipton asked Mr. Wood to review this with legal counsel and ask the City Attorney to attend the next meeting for legal questions that may come up. Commissioner Lipton asked what rights Public Service Company has under the easement, in terms of the use. Are they the standard of what they have now or anything above that the City has the ability to approve or disapprove or do they have some rights above and beyond what they have already constructed in the easement. Mr. Wood stated that in many cases they are on own land in terms of the right-of-way. In some cases they are on an easement after they have disposed of the right-of-way and retained an easement. Mr. Wood would like to get more information on these issues for the next meeting. 3