Posted 8/8/01
County adopts powerline ordinance
By MaryHelen Swanson
The issue brought more people to the Chisago County Board meeting Aug. 1 than could fit into the meeting room. When it was resolved, it made many people happy. It also left a few disgruntled.
The issue? The adoption of an ordinance amending the county zoning ordinance to address essential services and transmission services, in other words, an ordinance regulating the installation of powerlines in Chisago County.
A final draft was approved 4-1 by the commissioners with 5th District Commissioner Mike Robinson opposed. But this action came about only after a very lengthy public hearing. And a section dealing with the requirement for ěneedî was included in the adoption in direct opposition to the recommendation of a specially hired attorney.
Much time was spent that night going over parts of the amendment that were to be changed although the task force, according to Chisago County Attorney Ted Alliegro, was expecting it to be adopted as they had prepared it. He said one of the major differences of opinions between himself and the hired attorney was the ěneedî section. He wanted it in, the attorney warned against it.
The original amendment put together after years of work by the assigned task force, with the assistance of the countyís planning commission, county staff and hired attorney, was at the meeting that night.
But a revised one, with additions and deletions was also on the table and was the one that was scrutinized during the meeting.
For the most part, most of the changes were in wording and areas of duplication. And these changes were essentially approve by all.
The main subject of contention was the inclusion of a section on ěneed.î
Many coming to the microphone that night urged the commissioners to include this section.
Hired attorney Eric Swanson, of Winthrop and Weinstine, however, warned that the county could be inviting potential litigation if they kept this section in the amendment.
He said if the county objected to a powerline because of public health, safety and welfare reasons it would stand legally, but he repeatedly stressed that a denial based upon ěneedî would be subject to legal challenge.
Commissioner Tom Delaney, who persisted in getting the ěneedî section included, said it would buy the county time. He acknowledge new legislation just passed in Minnesota that regulates issues such as certificate of need, but he insisted it was necessary to have ěteethí in the countyís ordinance in case the legislature weakens the requirements in the future.
So insistent on this issue was Commissioner Delaney, he had asked attorney Carol A. Overland of Northfield to come to the meeting to help convince the board that this section must remain in the document. An objection to her presence was made, but she was later allowed to speak during the public comment period.
Apparently she has dealt extensively with transmission line issues, most recently in Duluth, and she was among those encouraging the commissioners to include the ěneedî section.
She said the new legislation does not prohibit counties from making the determination of need. She called it an ěinsurance policy.î
Delaney said the county had everything to gain and nothing to lose by including this section. ěItís important to send the message that if transmission lines are going in our county they must be needed,î he said.
But Swanson kept insisting that the state has not given counties the authority to determine need.
Apparently, this infant legislation gives the applicant the option of going to the state or the county when seeking approval for the installation of a 100-200 kilovolts line. (According to Swanson, the new legislationís guidelines are as follows: below 100 kv goes to the local entity, 100-200 can go to the local or state, over 200 to the state).
After a break in the meeting, during which time Alliegro met with Swanson outside the board room, Alliegro said he had been ěeducatedî by Swanson and agreed that if the section was left in the ordinance, it should not be used. Commissioner Bob Gustafson, who repeatedly stressed he wanted to avoid litigation, said he had a problem with the need section being in there with no intention of using it. It would be like a bluff, he said.
Representing the OES (essential services) task force, Tom Martin asked what harm it would do to have the section in. He said it was in everyoneís best interest to at least have the potential to determine need.
When an Excel representative got up to speak he said with this ordinance so stringent, Excel would obviously go to the state for approval.
He said in his experience they have never constructed a powerline that pleased everybody. And he said, in his experience, if the wording is in the ordinance, itís there to be used.
In the end, the motion to adopt the ordinance amendment with the changes made that night included changing the word ěshallî to ěmayî in connection to the section on need.
Commissioner Robinson said he opposed the motion because he feels the county would lose in court and it would be costly. In addition, he said the task force and planning commission, with the help of an expert (Swanson) had worked hard on this document and he was willing to accept it as it had been prepared.
In the end there were many happy people, from task force members to interested citizens, leaving the board room, among them an outsider, Carol Overland, who commented that she was very happy with the end result.
With the countyís moratorium on applications for powerline construction due to expire Aug. 21, it is anticipated that Excel is ready to apply for a powerline soon after that date.