A rally against United Illuminating’s plan to rebuild and relocate power lines is set for Tuesday, Nov. 12 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St. in Fairfield.
The Connecticut Siting Council approved UI’s plan to erect monopoles as high as 140 feet along the north side of the railroad tracks in Fairfield, much as Eversource has done along Redding Road and Congress Street, and take more than 20 acres of permanent easements from private properties.
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In March, Fairfield filed an appeal in Superior Court against the siting council, challenging the legality of its decision and the negative impact it would have on the economy, environment and historic properties. The city of Bridgeport, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust, a grassroots group, also filed appeals in Superior Court.
Lisa Clair, director of communications for Fairfield, called the monopoles “striking and ugly. You can’t miss them. We have a visual of what it might look like.”
In order for UI to install the poles it would need to obtain permanent easements on private property, which could restrict how the property owners on the north side of the Metro North Railroad can use their land.
“They (UI) have said in the press that they need an additional 22 acres and are asking residents along the north side for permission to come onto their property with vehicles, equipment for drilling and could include ‘minor’ vegetation cleaning,” said Clair. “Then they backed up and asked residents if they can come on their property and look around to see if they need to bring equipment on it. Most residents, as far as I am aware, have denied access.”
The purpose of the rally is to bring people up to date and to emphasize that it is still an ongoing issue, according to organizers.
“May 2024 was the last town hall meeting so people may think ‘out of sight, out of mind’. People don’t remember, or think it got resolved. And that’s not true,” said Clair.
The Rev. Laura Whitmore of the Southport Congregational Church, which is part of Empowering Fairfield, a grassroots group organized against UI’s plans, said the church would like to see UI bury the lines “to preserve the historic nature not only of the village of Southport but the town of Fairfield and the city of Bridgeport.
“There is no reason for an organization to come in and take private property to build something that is unnecessary. The other part is [that] there is just blatant disregard for historic parts of this project. Connecticut is a beautiful, historic state. We can’t have businesses running over people,” Whitmore said.
Andrea Ozyck, who with her husband, Steve, started Empowering Fairfield in September 2023, said they did so specifically to take on the monopoles. She said they have between 600 and 700 members.
“Our main objection to the project is that the plan will involve taking nearly 20 properties from private owners,” she said. “We’re not trying to stop them from improving the power infrastructure, but typically, what we’ve seen in similar projects, when they go through densely population areas like ours they put the lines under the ground.”
Of the upcoming rally, Clair said, “It’s a more casual, fun way to bring people together, a community gathering to talk about the appeal the town has in Superior Court, basically against the siting council and UI, asking the court to vacate the siting council’s decision to move from south to north, and require UI to resubmit its application with details about the potential move to the north of the railroad tracks and the impacts it may have.”
If the appeal is successful, UI will have to resubmit its application to the siting council with details of the new route and its potential impacts. Affected residents and businesses would have to automatically be given intervenor status, providing them with the right to come before the siting council the siting council to ask questions and describe adverse impacts.
Other changes include a larger financial analysis of the impact the project would have, along with increased municipal participation funds for towns to help with significant legal expenses.
