PPL won’t change plans for power line, invites opponents to town meeting

by Steve Reinbrecht

Despite opposition from all sides, PPL Electric Utilities has decided to run a 69,000-volt power line with a 100-foot-wide right-of-way through the middle of Sinking Spring, disrupting the borough’s ongoing development project.

“We have today received a letter from PPL stating that they plan to move forward on installing this line along the original route proposed over nine months ago,” Sam Loth wrote in an e-mail Monday afternoon. Loth is the coordinator of the BOSS 2020 Revitalization Committee, in charge of the borough’s renaissance.

Map from PPL

The electric company evaluated four other options and decided this one is the best, partly because it affects fewer land owners and has a lower cost, PPL spokeswoman Jessica Long wrote in the letter to the borough, dated Sept. 9.

For more information, she invites everybody to visit company officials between 6 and 8 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Inn at Reading, 1040 N.Park Road, Wyomissing.

“We intend to attend the Sept. 22 public meeting in force,” Loth wrote in his letter.

Loth says it’s hard to believe the power company decided to put the line through the borough even though company officials attended early meetings about the project.

PennDOT, the state, Berks County and Sinking Spring have together spent more than $5.3 million over 8.5 years on the project, Loth wrote.

State Sen. David Argall and state Rep. Jim Cox sent PPL a letter opposing the power-line route. Residents and Spring Township officials have opposed it.

The borough's plans call for 450,000 square feet of commercial, office, retail and food operations, about 100 housing units and $60 million in private investment.

PPL says the new power line is needed to make electric service more reliable for thousands of homes and businesses in Sinking Spring and the surrounding region. Based in Allentown, the company has about 10 million customers and saw $7.7 billion in revenues last year.