Geauga Power Line Amendment

8/6/2019 Geauga Power Line Amendment

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Cas e No . 11-1220-EL-BTA

BEFORE

T H E O H I O P O W E R S IT I N G BO A RD

In the Matter of the Applica t ion ofAmer ican Transmiss ion Sys tems,Incorpora ted and The Cleveland Elec tr icI l lumina t ing Company for anAmendment to the Cer t i f ica te ofEnvi ronmenta l Compa t ib i l i ty and Publ icNeed for the Geauga County 138 kVTransmission Line Supply Projec t .

O R D ER O N C E RTI H C ATE A M E N D M E N T

The Ohio Power Si t ing Board (Board) , coming now to consider the above-ent i t led

mat te r and hav ing de te rmined tha t a publ ic hea r ing i s no t necessa ry, hav ing rev iewedthe amendment app l ica t ion and be ing o the rwise fuUy advised , he reby i ssues i t s o rde ron cer t if ica te a m en dm en t in accord ance wit h Section 4906.10, Revised Co de.

O P I N I O N :

A. Histo ry of the Procee ding:

O n No ve m be r 24, 2008, the Board issued a n opinion , ord er, and cer t i f ica te , inCas e N o. 07-171-EL-BTX (07-171), gr an tin g the app licatio n of Am erica n Tra nsm issio nSystems Incorpora ted (ATSI) and Cleveland Elec tr ic I l luminat ing (CEI) (col lec t ive ly.Applicants) for a certif icate to construct a 138-kilovolt (kV) transmission line primarilyin Geauga County, to re inforce CEI 's e lec tr ic system in Geauga and Ashtabula Counties .

On A pri l 1 , 2011, as supp lem ent ed on M ay 18, 2011, ATSI and CEI f iled anapplica t ion to amend the cer t i f ica te issued in07-171. T h e p r o p o s e d a m e n d m e n t m a k e sfour ad jus tments to the rou te approved by the Board in07-171. The first adjustment isloca ted nor th of Whi tney Road and was reques ted by the prope r ty owner o f the twoparcels . The second adjustment is located south of Rock Creek Road and was requestedby the proper ty owner of two parce ls , and re locates the route on the parce l of thereques t ing prope r ty ov /ne r. Loca ted a long Ledge Road , the th i rd ad jus tment wasreques ted by two of the th ree prope r ty owmers a long the proposed ad jus ted rou te andre locates a por t ion of the l ine f rom along Ledge Road to a cross country route la rgelypass ing th ro ug h agr icul t ti ra l f ie lds. The f inal adjustmen t is located nor th of Burr ow sRoad and i s r eques ted by the Appl ican ts to avo id p lac ing one com er s t ruc ture o f thet ransmiss ion l ine wi th in a we t lan d th a t has expan ded du e to beave r ac t iv it ie s an drepresen ts on ly a mino r change f iom th e Board -approv ed rou te .


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In accordance with Rule 4906-5-10(B) , Ohio Admirustra t ive Code (O.A.C) ,Ap plican ts serve d copies of the am en dm en t applica t ion u po n local officials. No tice ofthe am en dm en t applica t io n w as pu blish ed on Ap ri l 28, 2011, in The Plain Dealer, The

News-Herald, and The Geauga County MapleLeaf. Applicants f i led the ir proofs ofpu blic atio n w ith th e Board o n May 5, 2011. O n June 17, 2011, the B oar d's Staff (Staff)f iled a rep or t evalua t ing the am en dm en t applica t ion. The Board received one coirunentf iom a local resident , Ron ald B urba , on May 5, 2011, s ta t ing his concern tha t theamendment ex tended a long h is p rope r ty l ine and tha t he would be nega t ive ly a f fec tedby the amendment because he would need to avo id the a rea to avo id expos iure to theenerg y f ie ld . Ap plica nts f iled a le t te r in resp ons e on M ay 25, 2011, expla in ing tha t theproposed amendment wHl have no impac t on Mr. Burba ' s p rope r ty a s the l ine wi l l beplaced 110 feet we st of M r. Bu rba 's pro per ty. M oreo ver, Ap plicants expla in tha t thepro pose d ad jus tm ent s i t s on the pro pe r ty of the ow ners wh o reques ted the ad jus tment .

B. Appl icab le Law:

ATSI and CEI are corpora t ions and persons imder Sect ion 4906.01(A), RevisedCode , and a re ce rt if ica ted to cons truc t , ope ra te , and m a in ta in a t r ansmiss ion l ine u nd erSect ion 4906.10, Revised Co de, in accordance w ith the B oard 's order in07-171.

Pu rsu an t to Section 4906.10, Revised Co de , the Boa rd 's autho r i ty app lies to m ajorut i l i ty fac i l i t ies and provides tha t such ent i t ies must be cer t i f ied by the Board pr ior tocom me ncing c onstruc t ion of a faci li ty. In accordance with Cha pter 4906, Revised Co de ,the Board pro m ulga ted ru le s , wh ich a re se t fo rth in Chap te r 4906-5, O .A .C, p resc r ib ingregula t ions regarding applica t ions for major ut i l i ty fac i l i t ies and amendments tocertificates.

Sect ion 4906.07, Revised C od e, requires tha t , wh en conside r ing an app lica t ion foramendment of a cer t i f ica te , the Board shal l hold a hecir ing " if the proposed change inthe fac i l i ty would resul t in any mater ia l increase in any environmenta l impact of thefacility or a substantial change in the location of all or a portion of such facility othertha n as pr ov ide d in the a l ternates se t for th in the applica t ion ." An applican t is requ iredto provide not ice of i ts applica t ion for amendment in accordance with Sect ion4906.06(B) an d (C), Revised Co de , and Rule 4906-5-10(B), O.A .C.

C S taff Inves t iga t ion of P ropo sed Am end me nt :

O n Jun e 17, 2011, Staf i fi led i ts repo r t evalu at ing th e am end m en t app lica t ion.Staf i s ta tes tha t i t reviewed the amendment applica t ion and vis i ted the s i te .

In i ts repor t . S taff notes tha t the route modif ica t ions were proposed a t thesuggest ion of the impacted proper ty owners . S taff expla ins tha t the four adjustments to


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th e rou te are expe cted to resu lt in a red uc tio n of pot entia l ecological im pa cts. Staffrep or ts tha t the fi rs t adjustm ent is no r th of W hitn ey Road and this mo dif ica t ion w ou ldstra ighten the or iginal a l ignment , reducing the need for an addit ion of more extensive

guying suppor t wires . The second adjustment is located south of Rock Creek Road andlessens the impac t to p r io r i ty t r ees . Reques ted by prop e r ty ow ners , the th i rdad justm ent relo cates the orig inal aligrim ent f iom their resid ential f iontage t o gen erallyfol low their agr icul tu ra l f ie lds a long pr op er ty l ines . F inal ly, the four th adjustm ent isloca ted nor th of Bur row s Road and i t wo uld avoid a we t lan d tha t i s exp andin g d ue tobeaver ac t ivi ty and would a lso a l low the Applicants to avoid a conservat ion easement .

Staff repor ts tha t the r ight-of-way of the proposed adjustments to the approvedrou te inc ludes rune s t r eams, seven we t lands , an d two pond s . Ho wev er, the re we re nothrea tened or endangered spec ies in the r igh t -of -way and impac ts to the wa te r

re sources wi l l be min im a l . The prop osed ad jus tments wiU involve some wo odlo tc lear ing, bu t less tha n the amo un t associa ted w ith the or iginal rou te . W etland im pac tswil l also be decreased as a resul t of the pr op os ed ad justmen ts to the route . The p on dswi l l no t be impac ted by the am end m ent . Ad herenc e to the condi t ions imp osed in theor iginal cer t if icate issue d in 07-171 wil l protec t ecologica l resourc es associa ted w ith thisproject.

Because the major i ty of the chan ges pro po sed in this am en dm en t are the resxi lt ofprope r ty ov^ner r eques ts , the Appl ican ts have ob ta ined the necessa ry op t ions orease m ents in orde r to a l te r the route as pr op ose d in the am en dm en t for 11 of the 12

affec ted parce ls . The one exception is a parce l wh ere App licants have a t tem pte d tocontac t the prope r ty owner wi thout success and Appl ican ts be l ieve the prope r ty i spresently in foreclostire.

The ame nd m en t, as pro pos ed, wil l not s igruf icant ly a l te r exis t ing land use . N orec rea t iona l o r publ ic pa rk lan d i s c rossed by the amen dm ent and the impac ted land forthe am end m ent is p redo min a te ly agr icu l tu ra l , wo ode d , and rura l r e s iden t ial . N ores idences wi l l need to be rem oved in o rde r to accom mo da te th i s am end m ent p rop osa l .S taff expla ins tha t , in analyzing the four amended sec t ions of the t ransmission l ine ,there were four residences within 100 feet of the originally certif icated line, and therea re no w no re sidences wi th in 100 fee t of the pro po sed am end m ent . There were 14residences v^thin 1,000 feet of the originally certif icated line and there are now eightresidences within 1,000 fee t of the amendment.

Stafi explains that, as noted in07-171, the projec t wil l introduce aesthet ic impactsto a rura l a rea . To help m inim ize these effec ts . Applica nts wil l con tinue to ut i l ize w oo dstruc tures in l ieu of s tee l pole or tower s truc tu res for the ame nd ed sec t ions.


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The Applicants subirut ted a Phase I Cultura l Resources Survey for this projec t inJan uar y of 2011, and in a le t te r da te d M arch 2 1, 2011, the Oh io Histor ic Prese rvat ionOff ice (OHPO) concluded tha t no his tor ic proper t ies wil l be af iec ted by this projec t .

S taff notes tha t the same le t te r recommended tha t no fur ther coordinat ion with theO H P O is nec essa ry for this project, unless the scop e of w ork ch ang es. Staff f inds th atthe proposed amendment cons t i tu te s a change in the or ig ina l scope of work andrecen t ly r ece ived an amended Phase I Cul tu ra l Resource Survey f rom the Appl ican tspe r ta in ing to the four p rop osed ad jus tments . No i ssues we re iden ti f ied in th i s u pd a te dcultura l resource s survey . Co nsis tent w ith the or iginal case , the Ap plican ts wil lcon t inue to ob tain inpu t on the am end ed cu l tu ra l r e sources r epor t f rom the OH PO .

S ta f i r ecommends tha t , in add i t ion to the condi t ions approved by the Board in07-171, ATSI and CEI be direc ted to comply with the condit ions se t for th in the Staf i

rep or t for the am end m en t app lica t ion, as l is ted below. Th us, S taff conc ludes tha t , vstithApplicants ' adherence to such condit ions, the construct ion of the projec t , as approvedin 07-171 and am end ed he re in , poses on ly min ima l soc ia l and e nvi ron me nta l impa c ts .

Staff proposes the fol lowing recommended condit ions for approval of thea me ndme n t a pp l i c a t i on :

(1) The Ap plican ts shal l adh ere to a ll cond it ions of theoriginal certif icate for the Geauga County 138 kVtransmission l ine supply projec t issued in07-171.

(2) The Ap plican ts shal l pr ov ide Staf i wi th an acceptableres tora t ion p lan for p lan t ing low-grovmig woodyvege ta t ion a long the s t r eam bank in the r ipa r ian a reasthat wil l have to be c leared east of Ledge Road as par tof the tiansmission line rea lign m ent . This rep lan tin gwil l be designed to he lp s tabi l ize the exposed s treambar \ks, reduce future erosion, and accelera te therees tab l i shment o f a woody, vege ta ted r ipa r iancorr idor.

D . Decision:

Upon a review of the record, the Board f inds, pursuant to Sect ion 4906.07,Revised Code , tha t the propos ed am end m ent of the cer ti fica ted Gea uga Co unty 138 kVtransmission l ine supply projec t , with the adoption of Staff 's recommended condit ions,pro m otes the publ ic convenience an d necessi ty and wiH not r e su l t in any addi t iona ls ign i fican t adve rse soc ia l o r env i ro mn enta l impac t . Fur th e rm ore , a l thou gh theproposed adjustments will shift a small portion of the location of the facility at the


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reques t o f a f iec ted landowners , the amendment does no t cons t i tu te a subs tan t ia lchan ge. Therefore , the Board f inds tha t a hea r ing is not necessary im de r thecircum stances pre sen ted in this case . Acco rdingly, the Board conclud es tha t , pu rsu an t

to Chapte r 4906 , Revised Code , ATSI and C EI ' s app l ica t ion sh ould b e app rov ed;therefore . Applicant 's 07-171 cer t i f ica te should be amended to re locate the t ransmissionl ine as requested in this proceeding and the cer t i f ica te condit ions are hereby amendedto incorpora te the amendment and the condit ions se t for th in the Staff repor t f i led inth is p roceed ing .

F I N D I N G S O F FA CT A N D CO N C L U S I O N S O F L AW:

(1) Th e pro ject is a m ajor facility as defin ed in Sectio n 4906.01(B)(2),Revised Code .

(2) ATSI an d CEI are each a corp ora t ion an d a pe rso n un de r Sect ion4906.01(A), Revised Co de.

(3) O n Ap ri l 7 , 2011, as sup ple m en ted on M ay 18, 2011, ATSI an d CEIfiled an application to amend the certif icate issued in 07-171rega rd ing the Geauga Coimty t r ansmiss ion supply l ine pro jec t ,which involves the construct ion of a s ingle-c ircui t 138-kVtransmiss ion l ine in Ge auga C ounty, O hio .

(4) The pro pos ed am end m ent i s to m ake four ad jus tments to the

proposed rou te : th ree a t the r eques t o f a f fec ted prope r ty ownersand one proposed by Appl ican ts to min imize the impac ts on aw etl an d. The affected section of the project is located in Ge au gaCo tmty, O h io .

(5) In acc ord anc e w ith Section 4906.06, Rev ised Co de , an d Ru le 4906-5-10(B) , O .A .C , copies of the ame nd m en t applica t io n w ere servedupon local government off ic ia ls and public not ice of the proposedam end n\en t was publ i shed in Geau ga Coi^n ty, Ohio . On May 5 ,2011, Applicants f i led the ir proofs of publica t ion.

(6) On Jtme 16, 2011, Staf i f iled a repo r t evalu at ing the am en dm en tappl ica t ion .

(7) The pr op os ed chan ges to the certif icated facility do no t resu lt inany mater ia l increase in any socia l or environmenta l impact , or asubstantial change in the location of the facility; therefore, inaccorda nce w ith Sect ion 4906.07, Revised C od e, a hea r ing is notnecessary.


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(8) Based on the record, in accordan ce w ith Ch apte r 4906, RevisedCode, the cer t i f ica te of enviroimienta i compatibi l i ty and publicneed issued in 07-171 for the Ge aug a Cou nty t ransm ission su pp ly

l ine pro jec t should be amended to pe rmi t cons t ruc t ion , ope ra t ion ,and maintenance of the t rar \smission l ine with the changesdescr ibed in this order and subjec t to the condit ions se t for th in 07-171, as am end ed in th i s o rde r.

ORDER:

It is, therefore,

ORD ERED , That the app lica t ion f iled b y ATSI an d CEI to ame nd the cer ti f ica te of

env iron m enta l com patibi l i ty and public need issued in 07-171 for the Ge aug a C ou ntytransmission supply l ine projec t be granted, as descr ibed in this order and subjec t to theconditions set forth in 07-171 and this order. I t is, further.


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ORDERED, That a copy of this order on cer t i f ica te amendment be served uponall interested persons of record.

T H E O H I O P O W E R S IT IN G BO A RD

James Lef twich, Board Meniberand Direc tor of the OhioD e pa r tme n t o f D e ve lopme n t

av id Must ine , Board Memberan d D irec tor of the O hioDe par tm ent of Na tura l R eso tuces

T h e o d or e Wy m y s l o, B o a r d ^ ^Member and Direc tor o f th tOhio Depar tment o f Hea l th

J ^ Z L / i L = ^Jiirf Zeh r inge r, Board M em berand Direc tor of the OhioDepar tment o f Agr icu l tu re

Scott Na l ly, B o ^ d M ember andand Direc tor of the OhioEnvi ronmenta l P ro tec t ion Agency

Al i Keyhani , Ph .D. , Board M em berand Publ ic Member

K L S / d a h

Entered in the Journal3 U L 2 5 2011

Be t ty M cCauleySecre tary

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