Neighborhood Concerns Expressed—

CL&P Expands Electrical Network

For Technology Firm

By Andrew Gorosko

Contractors working for the Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) have been busy during the past two months adding equipment to the local power network to provide sufficient electrical service for Advanced Fusion Systems, LLC (AFS), a technology firm that is refitting and expanding industrial space on Edmond Road for its manufacturing.

Three 13,800-volt circuits will be extended to the AFS facility in the $9 million project. One of those circuits will be a new circuit that will extend from a CL&P substation at 107 South Main Street northward to AFS at 11 Edmond Road.

According to mapping filed by CL&P with the town, the new circuit will extend from the substation northward along South Main Street to the area just south of South Main Street’s intersection with Mile Hill Road. The circuit would run parallel to Mile Hill Road, just south of Mile Hill Road, and then turn northward onto Tinkerfield Road.

The circuit would cross above Mile Hill Road in the area where Mile Hill Road intersects with Tinkerfield Road and Queen Street. The circuit would then follow Queen Street northward to its intersection with Church Hill Road. The electrical lines would then follow Church Hill Road westward to Wendover Road, where the lines would turn right and head northward along Wendover Road to its intersection with Schoolhouse Hill Road.

The lines would then extend westward along Schoolhouse Hill Road to its intersection with Hanover Road. The lines would follow Hanover Road northward to its intersection with Hall Lane, where they would turn to the right and head eastward on Hall Lane to its intersection with The Boulevard, after which the lines would extend northward to The Boulevard Extension.

The circuit would enter the AFS site from the rear at The Boulevard Extension, just north of the area where that street crosses above the Housatonic Railroad’s train tracks.

AFS needs the extra electricity for its industrial processes.

In an expanded industrial plant, AFS would manufacture high-speed electrical switching devices for very high electrical voltages. AFS’s products would be used to protect the nation’s electrical power supply grid in the event of disruptive solar storms or terrorist attacks. Some of the firm’s work would be performed for the US Department of Defense.

AFS gained Planning and Zoning Commission approval in July 2010 for its industrial redevelopment project. The firm also gained approvals from the Inland Wetlands Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

According to CL&P, construction work to provide the circuitry needed for AFS’s power requirements has been performed on South Main Street, Queen Street, Church Hill Road, Schoolhouse Hill Road, The Boulevard, Sugar Street, and Glover Avenue.

Future work sites will include South Main Street, Queen Street, Church Hill Road, Schoolhouse Hill Road, The Boulevard, Tinkerfield Road, Wendover Road, Hanover Road, and Hall Lane.

The electrical network expansion is scheduled to be completed by the end of summer.

Neighborhood Concerns

First Selectman Pat Llodra said this week that she and town staff members met with Marty Coladarci of CL&P on February 24 for an update on CL&P’s electrical network expansion plans.

CL&P provided additional mapping to the town that depicts electrical equipment installation that it plans for the new circuit that will extend from its South Main Street substation to the AFS site.

That mapping provided new information to the town on electrical work that is planned for streets including Tinkerfield Road, and the residential Wendover Road, Hanover Road, and Hall Lane.

Mrs Llodra said this week that discussion at the February 24 session included CL&P’s plans for the installation of utility poles and electrical lines on Hall Lane and some other streets that are affected by the project, but for which CL&P had not previously filed mapping.

Mrs Llodra said Mr Coladarci is aware of local concerns about the power project’s effects on the area and that he plans to keep town officials better informed about the progress of the work.

Concerns about the effects of the power expansion project have been raised with Mrs Llodra by resident Scott Baggett of 26 Hall Lane.

In a recent letter to Mrs Llodra, Mr Baggett wrote, in part, that when the AFS redevelopment application for Edmond Road was pending before town agencies, the project was praised and promoted by the developer and by town officials.

 “Its location on Edmond Road — an industrial area — seemed appropriate. Now, I learn that the supporting infrastructure for this industrial project will be constructed right through the middle of a residential neighborhood — my neighborhood. This was not made clear when the project was first unveiled and was being applauded by nearly everyone,” Mr Baggett wrote.

“Why didn’t the same town officials that helped secure this business for the town also work just as hard to protect the community from negative impacts of the development?” he asked.

Mr Baggett suggested that such electrical lines should instead be extended along Edmond Road to the AFS site.

“This industrial-grade infrastructure is totally inappropriate for residential areas like Hall Lane,” he wrote.

“If these utility lines go through as planned, Hall Lane’s days as a picturesque New England neighborhood are numbered… The ironic part of the whole situation is that soon I will be able to drive down Edmond Road, an industrial service road, and it will look more residential than the road in front of my home on Hall Lane,” he added.

In a February 26 response to Mr Baggett, Mrs Llodra wrote, in part, that town officials at the February 24 session “forcefully relayed our concerns that CL&P did not properly inform the town or borough about the pole/wire work to be done on Hall Lane, and further that we strongly advocate for minimal disruption of the tree line in the area.”

CL&P will provide more detailed information on the project to the town land use agency, she said, adding that the borough’s tree warden would mark any tree that needs to be removed for the project.

“I’ve done a few site visits to Hall Lane in the past week and have hope that the environmental/aesthetic effect of the pole/wire work will not be too impactful,” Mrs Llodra wrote.