by Steve Reinbrecht
The consultant in charge of fulfilling Sinking
Spring’s revitalization thinks it’s time to hire a specialized lawyer to spearhead
the fight against PPL Electric Utilities’ plans to run a 69-kilowatt transmission
line through the borough.
The borough will hold its monthly revitalization
meeting tonight, Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., and the topic is sure to arise,
said the consultant, Sam Loth, shepherd of the BOSS2020 project.
The public is welcome.
The power company says it needs the line, and a 100-foot-wide easement under it, to make the local electrical grid more reliable. The company is not considering options.
Borough officials say the line would destroy their
plans to fix intersections and build shops and housing. The project has had
more than $5 million in investment, according to Loth.
PPL has backed off from similar proposals in
other places, and perhaps an experienced lawyer could find out how others have
beaten a giant utility, he said.
Based in Allentown, PPL has about 10 million customers and saw $7.7 billion in revenues last year.
“Spend the five grand it’s going to take to
hire a big-gun lawyer,” Loth said Wednesday.
The borough has many people lined up with it. Opponents
of the PPL plan includes the borough council, planning officials, dozens of
residents and state Rep. Jim Cox and state Sen. Dave Argall.
Landowner Randy Robitzer says he won’t grant an easement to PPL through the golf course he owns on the route.
I've had trouble reaching council members, but one told me he opposes PPL's plan.
“The borough most definitely should try to
stop this. It will directly affect our redevelopment efforts by taking away
valuable land,” Councilman Brian Hoffa told me in an e-mail Oct. 6.
“Obviously, as a member of council and a
resident directly across from the proposed power line, I do NOT want to see
this power line installed. This will be a severe detriment to our redevelopment
efforts as well as spoiling a lot of nature-scape,” he wrote.
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