In spite of Idaho Power maintaining that it "reaches consensus with cities all the time," it is only after continuous pressure and bad publicity from elected officials such as those in Parma and Kuna that Idaho Power finally backs off its best ambition to cross private land. Idaho Power crosses private land even when public lands are readily available; in our experience, the BLM can be reasonable when offered alternatives.
Kuna may reject Idaho Power 500,000-volt Gateway West Transmission Lines project The city's proposed comprehensive plan would reject letting the utility build a new transmission line through town. BY JOE ESTRELLA 04/28/09 http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/749710.html
The Kuna Planning & Zoning Commission will consider the new plan at its meeting May 14. Then it goes to the City Council.
Mayor Scott Dowdy declined to speculate how the council might vote but said he had "a major problem" with where Idaho Power Co. wants to put its new 500,000-volt Gateway West Transmission Lines project.
Idaho Power spokeswoman Lynnete Berriochoa said the utility wants to reach a consensus with the city and rejected the idea that it would invoke eminent domain to acquire the land.
"We reach consensus with cities all the time," she said. "Sometimes it just takes a little longer."
The new comprehensive plan for the next 20 years projects that Kuna will grow from 16,000 people in a 16-square mile area to 70,000 in 70 square miles. The city would stretch north to Lake Hazel and McDermott roads and south to East Poen and Maple Grove roads.
City officials have been angry that Idaho Power took part in the 20-month process of creating the comprehensive plan but never mentioned that the Bureau of Land Management had decreed that the 1,150-mile Gateway West project could not be built on public land.
The proposed project originates near Casper, Wyo., and runs west to the Hemingway substation outside of Melba.
Idaho Power says it was forced to route the transmission line through Kuna when the BLM refused to allow it to run through the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area south of Kuna.
As now planned, the transmission lines would run through the proposed Osprey Ridge development, a 1,500-acre, 4,500-home and mixed-used community. Officials for the planned community have said that could lead to the project being scrapped.
If that happens, City Planner Steven Hasson estimated the city would lose more than $1 billion in economic development and future tax revenues.
One interesting comment at the end of this article asks why Idaho Power doesn't plan its utility corridor with Ada County Highway District's Kuna Mora Highway in mind. http://www.achd.ada.id.us/Projects/PublicProject.aspx?ProjectID=127
