PSE releases two bypass routes for Energize Eastside at 11th hour

The Phase 2 Scoping period of Energize Eastside did not go quietly into that good night, as Puget Sound Energy dropped a bomb in the waning hours of the comment period.

By Ryan Murray • June 1, 2016 12:29 pm
These maps show the two bypass routes Puget Sound Energy has announced. The routes would avoid the territory of the East Bellevue Community Council and head toward Downtown Bellevue before continuing south to reconnect with the utilities corridor.
These maps show the two bypass routes Puget Sound Energy has announced. The routes would avoid the territory of the East Bellevue Community Council and head toward Downtown Bellevue before continuing south to reconnect with the utilities corridor.

The Phase 2 Scoping period of Energize Eastside did not go quietly into that good night, as Puget Sound Energy dropped a bomb in the waning hours of the comment period.

The utility company released two proposed “bypass” routes which would fundamentally change the course of Energize Eastside through Bellevue if adopted, sending transmission lines down Bel-Red Road and missing the existing utilities corridor.

Jens Nedrud, senior project manager on Energize Eastside, said the routes were options in case Puget Sound Energy’s [PSE] hand was forced.

“There is no question that PSE prefers to use the existing corridor, and our preferred route, Willow 2, reflects this value,” he said.

Energize Eastside is a project meant to replace aging infrastructure and provide reliable power to the entire Eastside. PSE has designed an 18-mile route of high-voltage transmission lines from Kirkland to Renton. It has run into hurdles at multiple key points along the route, but perhaps nowhere as high as a half-mile stretch of the route which skirts Glendale Country Club.

This section of the route bisects an area of Bellevue under the purview of the East Bellevue Community Council [EBCC]. The council is “a local community council empowered by state law with the authority to approve and disapprove certain land-use actions in East Bellevue, including the Energize Eastside project. The EBCC may also act in an advisory capacity on other land-use issues that directly or indirectly affect its jurisdiction.”

Nedrud said that because of past legal action by the EBCC, the bypass plans would just go around the council’s territory.

“Based on EBCC’s recent action to block a separate reliability project through East Bellevue, along with their reluctance to discuss our preferred project route, the project team anticipates that EBCC may not approve the necessary permits to build the least impactful route in a timely manner,” he said. “We believe the bypass routes are necessary to reduce potential permitting risks to the project, in the event EBCC acts arbitrarily to reject any permit application within its jurisdiction.”

Bypass Route 1 would wind through the Spring District, Bel-Red Corridor, Wilburton and along Lake Hills Connector before rejoining the existing utilities corridor. Route 2 would follow the same route before splitting south on Richards Road to rejoin the corridor. With four south routes and two bypass routes in addition to the main utilities corridor, a total of twelve options exist to get the high transmission lines through Bellevue.

The surprise announcement of the bypass routes on the last day of the comment period have some, like the Coalition of Eastside neighborhoods for Sensible Energy [CENSE] frustrated.

“I think people are going to be shocked when they see these routes,” said Don Marsh, president of CENSE. “This adds 1.5 miles of poles and wires that pass very close to Downtown Bellevue, about 2,300 feet from City Hall. I’d be interested to see what the city council says. I know they are very protective of their view of Mount Rainier.”

Marsh said the late-notice of the bypass routes was an interesting choice.

“We’ll have two more comment periods, but we are well into this thing,” he said. “The people along these routes haven’t been informed. PSE did the exact same thing when it announced its Willow 2 route, but at least that was for a technical reason. With these new routes it’s been very clearly stated it’s for a political reason.”

As the Phase 2 scoping comment period has ended, the city of Bellevue (with help from the other affected cities along Energize Eastside; Kirkland, Redmond, Newcastle and Renton) will look at all comments and specifically review project-level alternatives.