York Town News
Hearing held on CMP screening
By Larry Favinger
A public hearing on additional screening along power lines was held last week at the York Public Library. From left, David Tibbetts of the Conservation Commission, Barrie Munro of the Planning Board and Gerry Mirabile of Central Maine Power go over the original plans for plantings long the Central Maine Power transmission lines.
Photo by Larry Favinger
YORK - It wasn't that long ago that even a veiled reference to the Central Maine Power Company transmission lines would result in crowds of people testifying for or against the project.
Now that the project has been completed, the company has put $20,000 into a special account for the town to use for additional screening of the poles and lines, but no one except a special committee set up by the Planning Board seems to care.
Last week a public hearing was held at the York Public Library to gather input from local residents on where that additional screening and planting might be best used, but the only people at the hearing were members of the committee.
"We'd like some input," said Barrie Munro of the Planning Board and the ad hoc committee.
Complaints or suggestions are welcome, he said.
The committee, which includes Munro, Selectman Torbert Macdonald Jr., David Tibbetts of the Conservation Commission and Gerry Mirabile of Central Maine Power, will try again before beginning to make final decisions.
Another public hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 17, at 7 p.m. at the library.
One alternative being considered is fencing instead of plantings to screen the transmission lines. Macdonald investigated that possibility and found eight-foot-tall cedar stockade fencing at between $60 and $80 per eight-foot section. Posts for that fencing go for about $45 each.
He said there is "no firm answer" on the price of installation, but it might be possible "to borrow people from public works or the Rec. Department to make the money go further."
Members of the committee had toured the lines path separately and discussed what they'd seen and what might be done. They noted the difference in viewing the lines in summer and winter due to the foliage.
There is a deadline to the project. The cost may not be more than $20,000 and any money remaining unspent by Dec. 31 of this year returns to Central Maine Power.
Macdonald noted that in several places along the route where a decision on what to plant would be difficult, that "Mother Nature, in time, is going to tell us what will grow."
As an example, he said looking south from Cider Hill Road, "Mother Nature is starting to fill in down below" without human help.
Macdonald said there are places where it is difficult to try "to make sense of what the planting was supposed to be."
The committee as a whole will be touring the route prior to the next meeting in an effort to come up with what has been done and what needs to be done.
"Wear your boots," Munro said. "We're going to be tramping around."
