A proposal to upgrade Central Maine Power Company’s (CMP) electric transmission highway topped the Whitefield Planning Board’s agenda on Oct. 21.
The panel also heard pre-application plans for a 12,000 sq. ft. warehouse on Rt. 17.
CMP’s Maine Power Reliability Program is intended to upgrade the company’s bulk transmission system, which was built in the early 1970s. The work will address the doubling in electrical demand since that time, according to Allison Truesdale, of TRC Engineering. CMP hired the South Portland firm do such tasks as surveying wetlands within the corridor that require government permitting and securing the permits.
The corridor, to be expanded by 45 feet more than the existing 225-ft. width, cuts a half-mile through the northwest corner of Whitefield on its way to Lewiston. Two existing 115-kilovolt lines on 45-ft.-high poles will be replaced by a new line of 345 kilovolts on 75-ft. structures.
The estimated project cost for Whitefield is $4 million. CMP’s 2008 taxes to the town were about $31,000. The work is to begin in late 2010.
The project evolved from a study that identified vulnerabilities in the northeast following the 2003 blackout and cost-efficient ways to address needs.
Of four parcels in the corridor, Truesdale said one of two Whitefield property owners has agreed to sell his portion; the other owner is still negotiating with the power company. She said, “It is CMP’s policy to continue to negotiate to the last minute,” but the company can exercise its power of eminent domain. It would have to apply to the state Public Utilities Commission. “It’s a process that can take years,” Truesdale said.
Answering queries raised at an earlier meeting, Truesdale said portable toilets and a construction trailer will be on site, no landscaping is proposed, and there will be a 32-ft. vertical clearance under the wires.
Board member Steve Smith, who was absent last Wednesday, asked Truesdale about safety at the July meeting when she discussed preliminary plans. Smith cited an incident in Augusta in which a line snapped, started a fire, and led to the electrocution of a property owner when he attempted to douse the flames.
That question was among several Truesdale deferred to engineers, two of whom attended the Oct. 21 session.
It is anticipated that such concerns will be aired at the public hearing scheduled for the board’s next meeting on Wed., Nov. 18 beginning at 7 p.m.
ProKnee expansion
Lee Richards, owner of ProKnee Corp., which has produced custom-made kneepads on Devine Road for 20 years, seeks board approval to build a 12,000 sq.ft. warehouse on Rt. 17. “I’m over maximum capacity of the building I’m in,” he said.
The proposed steel-sided building will be for storage and the assembly of the kneepads. Office space and shower facilities will be incorporated into a residence on the site.
The new building will be connected to the house/office.
Richards said the company’s employees work with preprocessed materials. “We don’t manufacture anything. We’re a dry assembling and cutting operation.”
He said he would like to build as rapidly as possible but can’t promise the construction will be done in two years.
The board asked that drainage plans be provided when Richards returns with a complete application in December.
