CCP 07-19-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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8TH FRIDA Y . . SAINT PAUL PIONEER PRESS Oakdale pushes for underground power lines JIM BROEDE STAFF WRITER In' Oakdale, high-wire acts may become a thing of the past. The City Council is expected to adopt' an ordi- nance Tuesday requiring all future power line installa- tions to go underground in the Community of 25,000 residents, "More and more of our citi- zens are ohjecting to overhead lines," Council Member Sherry Timmermann said. "It's mostly an issu'e of aesthetics. If those ,lines are buried, it'll improve the scenery . around here.'" The city's planning commission voted unanimously -to recom- mend approval of the newordi- Dance. But there's opposition from Northern States Power Co. John Wertish, NSP's communi- ty service manager, said it will cost an ,extra $338,000 to bury a proposed new mainline feeder intended to serve Imation, a fast- expanding 3M spin-off company in Oakdale. IF YOU GO The City Council '1'11I .meet at 7 p.m. Tues- day In Oak- dale City Hall,1584 Hadley Ave. N. NSP asked the city to pay the additional cost, but the City Council denied the request. "NSP will make a nice profit from a high-power user' such as Imation and other development in Oakdale," city administrator Craig Waldron said. "That should allow NSP to easily offset those additional costs, probably in less than a year." Timmermann, meanwhile, called for NSP to be a good neighbor. "It wouldn't burt for NSP to spend more on aesthetics," sbe said. "Tbat power line to Imation will pass by a residential neigb- borhood wbere the people recent- ly objected to having to look at a new nearby service station and small strip shopping center, Now, if they have to also look at overbeaa power lines, they'll be even more upset." Wertish said tbe issue goes beyond money. " " '''Underground lines aren't always the most reliable way to go," be said. "When we bave problems with nndergronnd lines, the outages usually last longer, It's easier locating and fixing a problem on an overhead line." In Eagan, where underground lines have been required in new subdivisions since the 1970s, city officials say the problems have been few and far between, "I've been here since 1979," Eagan public works director Tom Colbert said, "and I can't. recall a single power outage due to underground line .failure. Out- ages bave been primarily tbe result of storm damage to elec- trical substations." Overbead lines are allowed in Eagan only in rare instances, "Obviously, higb.voltage trans-' mission lines are too expensive or impractical to go under-' ground," Colbert said. "But all local distribution lines are buried." ' , The City Council will meet at' I 7 p,m. Tuesday in Oakdale City Hall, 1564 Hadley Ave. N, 1 e