Maritime Electric in final stages of transmission line route proposal

Maritime Electric has come up with two possible routes for the proposed New Glasgow substation and transmission line project, followingconflict and subsequent community involvement,

The routes, along with the environmental assessment were presented to the public at an open house on Thursday.

Community was involved

Maritime Electric decided to meetwith a community groupof about 10peoplewhen the company'soriginal plan was met with opposition.

They met continuously over the summer, and Maritime Electric's president and CEO, John Gaudet said thepreferred route is a variance of what the community came up with.

"The one we came up with with the community was mostly cross-country, there is a cross-country section in our new route that we've identified, but it's by and large along roads.The community worked hard to try and identify an alternate route and we really appreciate that."

Gaudet said the preferred route is along public highways which will allow for easier access, and it is shorter than the original plan so it should come within the budget of about $2.9 million.

The preferred route would stretch4.5 kilometres,along mostly pre-existing roads,and the alternate route would runabout 7.8 kilometres onprivate land.

The public now has about 10 business days to provide input about the routes.

After which, Maritime Electric will present the information to the government.

"We'll take the findings from [Wednesday],we'll submit additional information to the provincial government, and we'll also be in dialogue with the regulatory appeals commission, and hopefully we'll have a conclusion or a finding from the regulators later this fall, and we can start this fall," Gaudet said.

He said they hope to have the work completed by spring of 2017.

'Pleased to hear they listened'

David Park is a New Glasgow resident who attended the open house.

The routes don't directly impact his property, but he said he is happy to know Maritime Electric addressed concerns.

"I learned more about the need for the substations, the justification for doing something, so that made me feel like the substations are in need and are going to be a positive benefit for continuous service."

"I was also pleased to hear that they listened to the community, there were some initial concerns, they've created two options, both I think which are less impactful and I was pleased to hear they listened."

Park is a fan of the preferred route that goes alongexisting roads.

'Win-win scenario'

Gaudetsaid this was a learning experience for the company.

"The initial consultations were somewhat difficult, there was quite a bit of community reaction to the original proposed route, along the Millvale Road, so we paused the project.We did not anticipate that kind of reaction, it was clear and strong so we had to regroup as a company and look at the alternatives."

He said going forward, they will keep the community in the loop.

"We had pretty much extended along highways for years without much interest or push back, we're hearing now that people are more particular, and we've developed an engagement process that we're going to use going forward."