Public input for a Puget Sound Energy upgrade project is receiving mostly negative public feedback.

Energize Eastside, which has been in the works since 2013, is a Puget Sound Energy project that plans to upgrade 18 miles of transmission lines from Redmond to Renton and will include the construction of a new substation in Bellevue.

Currently the City of Bellevue is reviewing PSE’s application for a conditional use permit and a critical areas land use permit. A public meeting was held on Thursday, Sept. 6, to give citizens another way to submit public comment.

The project aims to replace much of the transmissions lines along the 18-mile stretch with newer 230 kilovolt lines. Keri Pravitz, community project manager at PSE, explained that the purpose of the project is to upgrade the lines because of their age and because of the increasing demand on the system the area will see as the population rises in the coming years.

Many of the lines were last upgraded in the 1960s, she said, and according to growth and planning studies more capacity is needed.

The public comment received at the meeting was universally very critical of the project, the reasons for the project and the process it has gone through.

Don Marsh, president of the Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy, criticized the justification for the project, saying electricity demands have either stayed the same or fallen, citing the Bellevue Environmental Stewardship web page as stating that electricity use has been flat or declining in over the past five years.

Marsh also advocated for other energy alternatives like solar power and battery technology as methods of electrical efficiency. He also was critical of the potential loss of mature, urban trees along the transmission line.

Another speaker shared his concern that PSE had not released empirical data that shows the growth of power demand being cited as justification for the project. The speaker also asked the city to provide information on how the job description for the hearing examiner, who has not yet been hired, would be formed.

A third speaker whose family lives in Clyde Hill, was also very critical of the plan to replace trees along the transmission lines. He said many trees proposed to be replacements were not native to North America, and that some replacements were not comparable to what was being removed. He asked for more consideration as to the area’s aesthetic and feel.

Pravitz said they had heard the feedback and specifically responded to the concerns about the trees, stating that PSE will work with individual property owners to make sure that if vegetation is removed it will be replaced with something that can safely coexist with the area.

Acting Chief Communications Officer Brad Harwood clarified that hearing examiners are not hired, but the city has already employed a group of unbiased examiners, one of which will be assigned to this case.

The conditional use permit (CUP) is classified as a process one decision meaning it must be approved by an independent hearing examiner after a public hearing. The critical areas land use permit is a process two decision, which can be approved by the city at the same time that a recommendation is made to the hearing examiner regarding the CUP.

The hearing examiner will incorporate all of the public comment received before and during the hearing as well as reports from city staff and the applicants, before issuing a decision. Bedwell said all of the public concerns regarding the project have also been noted by the city and will factor into their review. Some of the comments they have heard so far include concerns regarding noise pollution, ratepayer funding and cost, safety in relation to the location along the Olympic pipeline, changes in property value, aesthetics and views, environmental impacts and mitigation.

If the permits are approved, Pravitz said, the South Bellevue area would be the location of the Richards Creek Substation and replacement transmission lines. The current groups of four electrical poles would be replaced by one or two taller poles that hold the 230 kilovolt wire higher off the ground.

For the next steps, Bedwell said the city will continue taking written public comment throughout the review process. The public hearing is expected to be scheduled for November, but nothing has been made official yet as the city is waiting on additional information they have requested from PSE. Only after that information is reviewed will the city be closer to forming a recommendation to the hearing examiner.

For more information on the project and the process and to submit additional feedback, the city has collected information on its “Energize Eastside Updates” webpage at https://bit.ly/2MoQpyU.