MEA seeks input on power line routes

WASILLA — A series of meetings between Matanuska Electric Association officials and Wasilla neighborhoods potentially affected by new transmission lines will give the public an opportunity to weigh in on the best route for the project.

Representatives from the city of Wasilla, MEA, and a residents of neighborhood along the proposed “gully route” for proposed 115-kilovolt transmission lines connecting two substations within Wasilla, met Wednesday at Wasilla Middle School. The meeting was limited to discussion of one of four central outlined possible routes for electric power, according to MEA spokeswoman Julie Estey.

“It was pretty much all associated with the gully route, one neighborhood in particular where a lot of the routes go up through,” she said.

The meeting was held to allow residents of the neighborhood to talk about their concerns apart from two other meetings in coming days. Officials have scheduled an informational open house from 5 to 9 p.m., May 21 at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center. The group will hold a second public hearing at the Menard Center from 6 to 9 p.m., June 11.

The meetings are designed to collect detailed information from neighbors that might not be immediately apparent to planners looking at a map or aerial photograph, Estey said.

“We’re basing our analysis on maps and driving around, and so they may know ‘Oh, this is now a house, or this is going to be x, y, or z,” she said. “And then it allows them as a community to look at … ‘If it goes through this area at all, we’d rather it go up through this direction.”

The meeting Wednesday started with an informational presentation, and included maps on which residents could examine the area and draw new routes, or add notes to proposed routes, Estey said.

Those who attended the meeting were generally curious, constructive and pragmatic, she said.

In addition to the two previously scheduled and announced meetings, Estey said MEA also is willing to meet with homeowners’ associations and other organizations to discuss transmission line routes through Wasilla. Organization leaders interested in scheduling a meeting for their particular neighborhood or community should contact Estey at julie.estey@mea.coop.

Planning for the alternative four routes — of which the gully route has the lowest possible cost and footprint, according to figures presented at a Wasilla Chamber of Commerce meeting earlier this year — began after the Wasilla Planning Commission voted to require that any transmission lines along the Parks Highway be buried. Burying the lines would be technically ill-advised and expensive, with cost estimates ranging as high $40 million, MEA officials have said.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.