Many property owners in the Boardtown community are breathing a collective sigh of relief after an announcement last week that an alternate route has been chosen for a lengthy power line installation originally planned for Boardtown Road.
Georgia Transmission Corporation announced that Highway 515 has been selected as the new route for the Whitepath Electric Reliability Project, through which approximately 10 miles of 46-kV sub-transmission line and metal support poles was to be installed to connect with a new substation in the Whitepath area. Georgia Transmission has stated the purpose of the project is to increase electricity reliability and reduce power outages in the area.
A joint statement from Georgia Transmission, in consultation with Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Sen. Steve Gooch, states that Highway 515 has been determined a viable corridor for the project, and conversations are underway with the Georgia Department of Transportation to develop a proposed route adjacent to the highway.
Announcement of the initial project route last year was met largely with disapproval and concern from Boardtown property owners. Three well-attended public meetings were held, and several residents attended a Gilmer Board of Commissioners meeting to voice their concerns.
A Save Boardtown informational campaign on Facebook urged local residents to contact their state representatives, including Ralston and Gooch, as well as Georgia Transmission, to voice opposition to the project.
Following those three public meetings last August, Georgia Transmission announced it would explore and analyze two alternate routes — Highway 515 and the CSX Railroad corridor.
“It’s great news. We’re all excited,” said Boardtown resident Robert Armour about the announcement of an alternate route.
“It was teamwork for the entire Boardtown (community). A lot of folks put a lot of effort into this — citizens on Boardtown, and just around Gilmer County, that joined our Facebook page, which has almost 700 folks on there. Big thank yous to all the citizens who were doing whatever they could,” added Armour, whose Save Boardtown Road signs have been put up in many yards along the proposed project route.
“A lot of people volunteered to put them up in their yard, and a lot of it was (through) word of mouth. I started putting them up and they would call me and say I want to get a sign too,” he added.
Jim Bailey, who’s lived on Boardtown since 1996, said there were several concerns local residents had about the project, including ruining the natural beauty of the scenic road, negative effects on property values and health concerns about living near high voltage power lines.
“(We were) enthusiastic about the power lines not coming up through here, especially when there appeared to be a logical route up the old (CSX) railroad track north or up 515, which would be a straight shot northward. Coming up this route didn’t really make sense, especially when you’ve got the wide open route of 515 and you’ve already got the right of way and everything there,” Bailey said. “We couldn’t understand why they wanted to come through our way when it would cost us a lot of value. We just didn’t want to see it.”
Boardtown Road was also used to route an Atlanta Gas Light natural gas pipeline northward several years back, but that line was buried underground, Bailey noted.
“We didn’t have an opportunity to say much about that. They came up here and had it buried and were gone before we knew anything about it,” he said.
Burying underground was not an option for the power lines, Bailey said.
“They can’t bury them. They have to put them up on those (giant poles). It’s not going to be pretty anywhere you put it,” he added.
According to Georgia Transmission, the decision to switch the route to Highway 515, led by Ralston and Gooch, is a culmination of input from community partners including citizens, civic organizations and elected officials.
“This outcome demonstrates that workable solutions can be achieved when parties come together in a cooperative spirit for the betterment of the community,” said Ralston. “Sen. Gooch and I are pleased that our partners at Georgia Transmission and Amicalola EMC have done their due diligence in service to the community and are now able to take the next step in ensuring reliable electricity for households and businesses in Gilmer County.”
In consultation with Ralston and Gooch, Georgia Transmission has developed a preliminary route alignment where easements still to be purchased by Georgia Transmission will be used along with existing GDOT rights of way and other public rights of way.
Now that a new route has been identified for the project, the prescribed preconstruction processes, including contacting property owners and conducting public meetings, will begin again. This time, residents and property owners along Highway 515 will offer input.
“At this point, the process really starts over in terms of routing and how we go about everything. We’ll be contacting property owners along Highway 515 that will be impacted and asking for survey permission,” said Terry Cole, Georgia Transmission Director of Public Affairs.
Cole said public meetings for the new route will likely be held this summer and, currently, there is no anticipated construction start date for the project.
“There’s considerable work to be done before we actually produce a map, make that public and then go back out and schedule our meetings. We’re anxious to get things underway because the schedule has been impacted, and there is a critical need. People in that area are dealing with intermittent outages. We are moving as quickly and reasonably as we can,” she added.