Powerline ordinance must be in place by August 21 ñ or else

Posted 5/23/01

Powerline ordinance must be in place by August 21 ñ or else

By MaryHelen Swanson

It wasnít much more than a month ago when Chisago County lost a $150,000 grant because of a deadline that could not be met.

Now, the county is up against that timeline wall again facing a near-crisis, in the eyes of some commissioners, if an Aug. 21 deadline is not met.

The issue is in regards to the completion of a county ordinance regulating the placement of power transmission lines.

A task force, with the title of Overlay Essential Services, has been working on the issue for about a year, but now is asking for professional counsel to complete the process of putting together an ordinance that will stand up in court.
The deadline looming is the end of the original moratorium and its six month extension on applications for installation of power transmission lines.

Commissioner Tom Delaney, said with electric deregulation and restructuring pending and because the last time a power line was approved was in the 70s, the county wants to make sure ìno utility comes in and builds more than we need.î
He refreshed everyoneís memory at the board meeting last week, on the impetus for this task force, going back to the NSP 230KV line application two years ago.

Eventually, he noted, that was dropped, but a new application for a 161 KV line may be forthcoming.
In fact, he stressed that if the county doesnít have an ordinance in place by the end of the moratorium, Aug. 21, there would, he said, be an application for a powerline Aug. 22 and the county would not have anything to say about it.

Delaney went on to say the county wants a tough ordinance to regulate any powerline that comes and he said the county needs the best legal counsel it can get to draft the ordinance.
With his attempt to move as fast as possible came a motion to form an ad hoc committee to check out legal firms and hire one ASAP to work on this ordinance.

Commissioner Bob Vande Kamp supported the motion. Delaney volunteered to be on the committee with Administrator Jim Thorn, Attorney Ted Alliegro and Environmental Services Director Marion Heemsbergen.

Heemsbergen had been given three names of professional firms in this field from county resident Bill Neuman.
At the urging of Commissioner Ben Montzka, who wanted to set a specific amount to spend on this legal counsel, the board approved an amount up to $15,000 for consultant work.

As eager as they were to move ìon a fast track,î Commissioner Montzka feared they were still destined to run out of time again.

He suggested the county give itself at least 20 more days.
But Commissioner Delaney stressed again that ìwe have to get it done or Xcel will be in the next morning and weíre going to look like the five biggest fools in the state - if itís too late - I donít even want to think about it.î

Anticipating an attorney would be hired immediately, Neuman, a member of the OES Task Force, suggested that this person be at the May 23 task force meeting and meet weekly with them until August.

Neuman said the task force members would even work outside of the meetings, if needed.

Administrator Thoreen anticipated having an attorney hired by 2 p.m. the following day as the county attempts to beat the Aug. 21 deadline.

When asked by Commissioner Delaney if they were in consensus that this issue would be addressed by Aug. 21, the entire board chorused ìyes.î

In other business last week, the commissioners:

ï Awarded the CSAH 14 bridge project to Dresel Contractors the low bidder at $1,878,926.85.

ï Learned from Engineer Mic Dahlberg that Chisago County would qualify for disaster aid if the President declares the state a federal disaster area (he has since done such), but noted that FEMA threw out the Kost Dam and damages to CSAH 20 (Taylors Falls) and Co. Rd. 7 (Rush Point) because they qualify for other aid. CSAH 1 was added to the list of flood damaged roads.

Dahlberg also noted that a 25-30 percent match will be needed from the county if it gets the federal aid.
ï Learned that the following county roads are scheduled to be paved this summer: 78, 65, 74, 67, and 88. However, Bruce Hampton was on hand with a petition from residents along Co Rd 88, many of them objecting to the paving. Hampton asked the board to reconsider the paving project saying the residents were concerned about additional traffic, speed and the safety of the children in the neighborhood.
Dahlberg responded saying the highway engineers have not entered into this with their eyes shut. He said he understood the need to keep some roads rural, but reminded everyone the county roads are the means of getting from one place to another, and are not township or city streets. He also explained that the speed issue is not controlled by the county.

Commissioner Vande Kamp noted that some of the people on the petition are those who call him at least once a year to complain about the rough road.

He said if this road is not paved this year it may not get paved for 20 years and he reminded everyone that it is impossible to keep a gravel road smooth and in perfect driving condition.

5th District Commissioner Mike Robinson, who more than once at the meeting encouraged the engineer to consider paving roads in the northern part of the county, said heíd take the four miles of paving f

Board Chairman Bob Gustafson told Hampton his request would be taken under consideration. And he told Hampton to keep in touch with Dahlberg.

Dahlberg, in response to the safety issue, said he would call the Sheriff and see about more patrolling along the road.
ï Was updated on litigation against the county by Attorney Alliegro who reported there are currently four lawsuits and two pending, most, if not all, covered by the countyís insurance.