ETL - Project Need and History
Download "Eastern Transmission Line Project Need and History" (PDF). If you have any additional questions, please contact Paul DeFrank.
Project Need
Over the last decade, the City has experienced significant growth and development, and a corresponding increase in the demand for electricity. This has been especially true in the fast growing eastern portion of the City and adjacent Leon County where development has outpaced the construction of electric transmission lines and substations. The currently inadequate transmission and substation network in this large and rapidly growing part of the City's service area creates a reliability concern.
As a standard design practice for reliability, residential and commercial customers electricity needs should be able to be supplied from a number of alternative substations in the area when a major outage occurs. These alternative substations are all linked together by a transmission line network. When major outages occur, the City must currently rely on the lower voltage distribution system to keep the power flowing to its customers. This lower voltage system has capacity limits, which means we would not be able to keep an uninterrupted flow of power to this area in the event of a major outage. Further, much of this system is currently served by a one-way feed from distant substations, so that a distribution line failure would effectively leave all customers beyond that point without power until the cause of the outage was found and repaired. This level of service is not consistent with our customers' needs or expectations.
The only acceptable and permanent way of providing a reliable source of electricity and providing for continuing growth to the eastern part of Tallahassee is to reinforce this area with the proper substation and transmission infrastructure. This infrastructure cannot wait any longer. A temporary substation has already been constructed, and now an additional distribution feeder is needed to support the area load. Growth on the electric system continues and the load is projected to increase at a rate of approximately 3 percent per year in the near future.
Considering that substations in the east part of the service territory are approaching maximum load, major problems are likely to occur during extreme peak load periods in the eastern parts of the City's service territory until the proposed substation and transmission lines are in service.
Project History
Initial Work began on the Mahan Route in 2001.
City Commission approved the construction of an overhead transmission line along Mahan Drive - June 13, 2001.
However, after further consideration of the fact that Mahan serves as a major gateway into the city, and based on the desire to get additional citizen involvement, the construction was postponed until an Independent Route Study could be conducted.
A Route Study was conducted by EDAW/Exponential Engineering Co. from June 2002 to June 2003.
Public Workshops were held on August 27, 2002 and April 22, 2003, after 7600 notices were mailed to the neighborhoods, notices were published in the Tallahassee Democrat and signage was provided in the impacted area.
Public Comments were recorded at both workshops, and the comment period after second workshop was extended until May 26, 2003 to provide additional time for responses.
At the request of the neighborhoods, City Electric Utility staff attended and made presentations at the October 24, 2002 Buck Lake Alliance annual Homeowners meeting, the January 7, 2003 Meadow Hills Homeowners meeting, and the October 9, 2003 Buck Lake Alliance annual Homeowners meeting.
The Final Report from the route consultant was submitted to the City in late September 2003.
The route consultant recommended Route N as the preferred route to carry forward. Route F was the route consultant's second highest recommended preferred route (see attached Route Map).
In mid-November, approximately 7600 postcards were mailed to residents notifying them of the consultant's recommendation, staff's recommendation of Route A, and the intent to present an agenda item to the City Commission requesting approval of the staff's recommended route.
At the December 10, 2003 meeting, the City Commission gave conceptual approval of Route A with the understanding that a third public workshop would be held on January 6, 2004, the results of which would be presented at the January 14, 2004 City Commission meeting.
City Staff met with Leon County Staff regarding Leon County Commission concerns on 12/16/03.
On December 11, 2003, City Staff issued an open invitation to Leon County Commissioners for individual briefings prior to the third Public Workshop scheduled on January 6, 2004; Commissioners Thaell and Rackleff accepted the invitations and were provided detailed briefings.
A third Public Workshop was held on January 6, 2004 after 7600 notices were mailed to residents, as along with a corresponding press release being issued.
A summary of the third Public Workshop was provided to the City Commission for consideration of staff's recommended route on January 14, 2004. The City Commission voted to accept staff's recommendation of Route A, effective January 29, 2004 to allow for further interaction with the Leon County Commission relating to their concerns.
On January 28, 2004, the City Commission voted to defer the effective date of their approval to March 1, 2004 and to conduct a Public Hearing on February 11, 2004.
On February 4, 2004 Commissioner Katz and City Staff met with leaders of neighborhood associations impacted by Route A (Mahan Dr.). During this meeting another alternate route was identified that followed Route A to Dempsey Mayo, then north on Dempsey Mayo to a point just north of the Miccosukee Greenway, parallel to the Greenway to a point that the line could be routed back southeast to the substation (this proposed route has been identified as Route AMG).
On February 5, 2004 Electric Utility staff participated in a community meeting on the project hosted by the Buck Lake Alliance to provide further information to the effected residents and encourage dialogue regarding the proposed routes.
On February 11,2004 the City Commission held a public hearing on the route selection for Eastern Transmission Line, and voted 5-0 to delay the decision for no more than four months to allow for further exploration of Route AMG and alternatives for underground construction of Route A (Mahan Drive). The Commission limited further exploration of alternatives to these two routes with flexibility for variations. During this discussion the Commission discussed the increased probability for potential power outages in the eastern part of the electric system by extending the length of time for a final decision, and the need for public involvement relating to the proposed Miccosukee Greenway alternative route.
On March 29 ,2004 at a City Commission Workshop Retreat, the Commission appointed Commissioner Katz as the lead Commissioner on this issue. Representatives of Powerhouse, Inc. immediately responded to the City's request, through a series of meetings and negotiating sessions, with a proposal where the City would acquire a combination of easements and fee simple ownership of a portion of Welaunee property. The conceptual agreement provides an alternative for the Eastern Transmission Line.
On September 8, the Commission voted 5-0 to approve a conceptual agreement to purchase +/- 450 acres from Powerhouse, Inc. in the amount of $9,852,000 and to continue the evaluation of the location of the Eastern Transmission Line subject to the completion of the land transaction.
Staff has also participated in several meetings and discussions with the Save Our Gateway (SOG) citizens group that represent a broad spectrum of the community concerned with the location of the transmission line on Mahan Drive. Based on a significant amount of review, the SOG group had identified a construction alternative for the Mahan Drive route that is a combination of overhead construction, "bored", and "open trench" underground construction.
The new alternative gives the city three feasible routes to consider: (1) Overhead Construction on Route A as originally proposed, (2) Overhead and combinations of underground construction along Route A as proposed by SOG and (3) Route AMG as negotiated with Powerhouse, Inc.
On October 11, 2004, Electric Utility staff held a public workshop at W.T. Moore Elementary School to provide information and seek comments from residents adjacent to the newly identified Welaunee route.
At the request of members of the Buckhead Homeowner's Association, on October 17, 2004 Commissioner Katz and Staff met with their Board to discuss specific issues regarding the Eastern Transmission Line relating to the Buckhead Subdivision.
Commissioner Katz and city staff met with Welaunee representatives following the meeting to try to re-negotiate the width of the tree buffer between Buckhead residents' houses and the transmission line, per the homeowners' request
The negotiations resulted in an increase in the natural buffer.
Commissioner Katz and city staff attended a meeting of the Buckhead Homeowners Association January 11, 2005, to present the new plans.
Final options to be presented to the City Commission in February will be displayed for the public at an open house community meeting Wednesday, February 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at W.T. Moore Elementary School.
After more than a year of public involvement initiatives and planning, the Tallahassee City Commission unanimously approved a route for the new Eastern Transmission Line at its meeting February 9, 2005.
The approved route, referred to as the "Welaunee route" in the Commission Agenda Item, was recommended by staff as the most viable of three alternatives based on the following criteria: public input, reliability, economics, impact on community and environmental concerns.