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Proposed East Wilton power substation upgrade discussed

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CMP had purchased the property with a house at 1228 Main Street in East Wilton Road from Philip and Kimberly Hilton with plans to build a new substation on the lot.
Central Maine Power Co.  has purchased the property with a house at 1228 Main Street in East Wilton Road from Philip and Kimberly Hilton with plans to build a new substation on the 5-acre parcel.

WILTON – A new substation is proposed to be built on a 5-acre lot in East Wilton because an upgrade needed to replace the existing one off Temple Road, town officials were told.

Central Maine Power Co. representatives met with town officials this week to discuss plans for a new substation proposed to be located on a lot they recently purchased in East Wilton. On hearing of the sale, residents have voiced concerns to town officials about the proposal, fearing the station would be unsightly if it were seen from Main Street, along with possible health issues and noise.

At Tuesday’s selectboard meeting, Town Manager Rhonda Irish confirmed CMP had purchased the property with a house at 1228 Main Street in East Wilton from Philip and Kimberly Hilton with plans to build a new substation on the lot. The Hilton’s house, known for its annual Christmas light display and across to road from Backus Garage, will probably be torn down, Irish said. But, the proposal is not to build the substation near the road in the current footprint of the Hilton’s two-story structure. The 5-acre lot has some frontage along Main Street and goes back quite a distance to the west, which would give plenty of space for the proposed substation to be built well away from the road, she said.

Irish and Selectboard Chair Tiffany Maiuri, who also attended the meeting with CMP, said the project is at least two years away and that many public information meetings will be held to discuss the plans before anything will happen.

The Hilton lot purchase was a necessary first step to know where it would be situated, Maiuri noted, with the location  chosen because  major transmission lines run right along the north side of the property line for a convenient tie-in to a new substation. The existing substation, which serves 500 customers and is in need of an upgrade to a new station to serve additional customers. It is located on Temple Road by a ballfield and behind the Western Maine Community Action Building in East Wilton.

The new station’s footprint would be 60 feet by 80 feet in size and surrounded by a 160-foot by 160-foot fence. While expected to be placed well off Main Street, CMP representatives are open to planting trees to screen the structure. The project is about a year away from the start of the permitting process, including a review by the Wilton Planning Board. If approved, building the substation could take place in late 2017 and, at the earliest,  by mid 2018 when it would be activated.

“They’re not proposing a huge substation,” Maiuri said. “It’s to replace an outdated substation and will be located where transmission lines are located.” Residents will get many opportunities to learn more about the project and have their say about it, she added.

Information she said may include health concerns residents might have over the exposure to electromagnetic fields from transmission of electricity, noise and sight. Maiuri added during the discussion she had with CMP, exposure to electric field from a substation is “negligible” outside of the fencing that surrounds it. “You have to be inside the fence to detect anything,” she said.

The earliest discussion on the project wouldn’t be held until August, Irish said.

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4 Comments

  1. Our property directly borders the property recently purchased by CMP, at 1228 Main Street, East Wilton. Aside from possible health effects from EMF’s with this “proposed” electrical substation, we and our neighbors are also VERY concerned about property devaluation. Having spent much time speaking to our neighbors, the Wilton Town Office Manager, Rhonda Irish, Selectperson Tiffany Mauiri, Code Enforcment Officer Roger Williams, Property Assessor Paul Binnette, Senator Tom Saviello, Representative Russell Black, CMP’S Consumer Relations, Ann Brooks, CMP’s Community Relations, Gail Rice, Darryl Spede, Project Manager of the “proposed” substation, a local Real Estate Attorney, and 2 reporters from the Sun Journal, we feel that we were not given enough information specifically by CMP. While we understand that there are meetings to be held in our community, and that there is a process, i.e. concept to fruition, this does NOT allay our concerns. History has shown repeatedly that when an entity as large as CMP, want something, they eventually get it. You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.

  2. Calling someone a NIMBY is just lazy. We’ve all done this to some extent until it happens to us. It kind of wakes us up to how exposed we are depending on our zoning. I think these people are allowed to do their homework when there is a potential change to the use of neighboring property.

  3. Lisa, and indirectly to India,

    If you want to control the land abutting yours, it’s very simple … buy it.

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