Sinking Spring farmer opposes PPL’s plans to run high-voltage line across his land

by Steve Reinbrecht

A farmer who owns land that PPL Electric Utilities needs to build a new transmission line in Southwestern Berks County has vowed not to sell the necessary easement.

“We’re fighting it,” said Harvey Brown, who owns 78 acres off Reedy Road, along the Cacoosing Creek in Sinking Spring. “We don’t want it to go over our land.”

PPL Electric Utilities says it needs the 69,000-volt power line, along with a 100-foot-wide right-of-way, to improve the reliability of the power grid.

Mr. Brown’s wife, Mary, said PPL’s plans have upset a lot of neighbors, some of whom are worried about health risks from living close to a high-voltage line.

“We don’t want to look out our window at it.”

The Browns stand with Sinking Spring borough, whose officials have said the line would wreck their long-developed plans for new stores and homes downtown.

And Randy Robitzer has said the line would destroy his 18-hole Village Greens golf course in the borough and make it hard to ever sell the land.

Mr. Brown said PPL officials talked to him about buying an easement a year ago but not since.

Mrs. Brown said she went door-to-door about PPL’s plans in nearby neighborhoods about two months ago and was surprised to learn that no one was aware of them.

“They’re being very sneaky about it,” she said of the power company.

PPL held an informational meeting Sept. 22 in Wyomissing to discuss the plans with residents. Mrs. Harvey said the meeting was ineffective. There were not enough chairs and no one from PPL spoke with a microphone to present the plans, she said.

“That was a big farce,” she said.

Mr. Brown said borough officials were upset with a headline in the Reading Eagle that suggested the fight couldn’t be won.

The Berks County Planning Commission has noted two concerns about the line's proposed location. First, using the proposed location may detrimentally affect the borough's “BOSS 2020" revitalization plans, according to a letter to PPL dated Aug. 26 from the commission’s executive director, Shannon Rossman.

Second, it would impinge on a proposed park around the historic sinking spring, on a parcel between Dunkin' Donuts and the railroad tracks.

"This spring is the namesake of the borough and a key part of their master plan," Rossman wrote.

The commission urged the company to work with the borough and others to reduce the effect of the line on the plans.