Summary of proposed high power transmission lines in Village of Montgomery

Wed. Jan 14th 7pm special meeting Village of Montgomery Hall, Clinton Street, Montgomery

Central Hudson has been tasked with rebuilding the WM (Walden Montgomery)Orange County, NY power transmission line. A group of concerned Village ofMontgomery residents, who will be directly affected seek your support.The current transmission line runs through the center of the Village ofMontgomery and has been in place for 70 years. There is no reason it can'tbe upgraded in place. Representatives of Central Hudson have confirmed this. This would avoid moving it to a proposed route around Conroy Ave.,Haskins Ct., and Purple Heart way and closer to the VCSD HS/MS Campus. The proposed re route would place poles of up to 90 feet in height with a clearcut Right of Way surrounding them of 100 feet and place these poles on school properties and in wetlands. All without benefit of a SEQRA study to understand the impacts to the well being of the community, property devaluation, safety and negative health effects of the electro magnetic field, wildlife and or traffic impacts among the few items that would be investigated. We need support in ensuring that our local Town of Montgomery Planning board (who has been declared lead agency on this project), The Town of MontgomeryBoard and the Village of Montgomery Board and all of our trustees represent us and present our best interests. This project would benefitfrom theSEQRA process to properly review the impacts. Frankly, as a concerned citizen group, we are baffled as to why the planning board has notmoved for a POS DECLARATION for SEQRA and we are a afraid they will NOT do so, thus allowing the time frame where SEQRA CAN be declared to run out. This would be a huge injustice to us the people whom the Town Planning Boardrepresents. Many of us believe, based on the size of the poles and thepreferred Right of Way (such a large clearing coupled with tall poles) that a portion of this transmission line is really being readied to be a MUCH HIGHER voltage than 69kv (which presents significant health problems as is).We need a moratorium to stop the time ticking on this project, we need topass a Town Law requiring all future power lines be buried and we MUST POSITIVELY DECLARE (POS DEC) SEQRA. Ideally these steps will ensure thatthis project does not NEED a Re ROUTE and will merely upgrade in place,where the line is today. Please help us to achieve these goals. Weekly town, village and town planning board meetings are being monitored by our group; we attend to ensure that we become aware of any developments on this project. A special meeting will be held on January 14th 7pm village of montgomery Hall, Clinton Street, withrepresentatives from Central Hudson, The Village of Montgomery Board, theTown of Montgomery Board, the Town of Montgomery Planning Board as well as concerned citizens. These meetings are where we are supposed to be informed of what is happening with the re route of the transmission line. This is where we can make a difference and make sure our voice is heard. Contact MemoryKeepsakes@Frontiernet.net for more info, questions.