A map of Eversource’s original underground power line proposal on Baptist Corner Road in Ashfield. Contributed Image
A map of Eversource’s revised underground power line proposal on Baptist Corner Road in Ashfield that was approved by the Selectboard on Monday. Contributed Image
ASHFIELD — After coming to the Selectboard on Monday requesting to install underground power lines around its substation at 463 Baptist Corner Road and being met with concerned residents, Eversource revised and simplified its proposal.
According to Town Administrator Paul McLatchy III, 24 people attended the meeting, in person and remotely, to ask questions. Selectboard member Steven Gougeon explained residents “were concerned about the road, their houses and trees,” and the impact the construction would have.
“They were trying to get an understanding of what it meant and why (Eversource was) doing it,” Gougeon said.
Eversource’s significantly reduced plan — involving 7,320 feet of conduit as compared to the original proposal of 54,360 feet — was approved at Monday’s meeting. This plan will start the company’s work around the Ashfield substation, with later construction planned in the future. The work is set to start this week and Eversource hopes to wrap up construction by Thanksgiving, according to McLatchy.
“It was a greatly reduced plan, going back to the drawing board,” Gougeon said in a phone interview. “They knew people were concerned.”
The original proposal involved installing conduit from 463 Baptist Corner Road to the road’s intersection with Main Street (Route 116). Eversource wrote in its hearing petition that the project aims to “improve reliability.” Burying the power lines protects the electrical system from weather-related damage.
“It will make the buried lines certainly more resistant to things like weather events, trees and the like,” McLatchy explained in an email.
Construction involves installing conduits, wires, transformers and switch protective devices, according to Eversource’s hearing petition. The original proposal entailed adding 14 manholes and 15 sections of conduit, making for a total of 54,360 feet of conduit along the westward edge of Baptist Corner Road.
At Monday’s meeting, Michael Kane, Eversource’s senior specialist in community relations, said the company wanted to respect the abutters’ concerns and would change its plan to take a step by step approach.
The new plan will start the process of slowly adding conduits. The new plan requests three manholes and three sections of conduit, making for a total of 7,320 feet of conduit along the westward edge of Baptist Corner Road.
“Given that (Eversource is) not going to bury the existing wires (at least not immediately),” McLatchy wrote in an email, “it’s not fully clear what impacts Phase 1 will have.”
Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.
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