Council delays approval of PSE project | Neighbors protest future loss of trees along route

The Bellevue City Council delayed approval of a Puget Sound Energy project to create redundancies between the Lake Hills and Phantom Lake substations on Monday to give officials time to look for possible last-minute changes.

By Brandon Macz • April 21, 2015 8:33 pm
The city has postponed approval of an application by Puget Sound Energy to connect a transmission line from the Lake Hills substation to the Phantom Lake substation (shown) until May 4.
The city has postponed approval of an application by Puget Sound Energy to connect a transmission line from the Lake Hills substation to the Phantom Lake substation (shown) until May 4.

The Bellevue City Council delayed approval of a Puget Sound Energy project to create redundancies between the Lake Hills and Phantom Lake substations on Monday to give officials time to look for possible last-minute changes.

A large gathering of Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy members protested the project outside city hall prior to the council meeting. No one was allowed to comment for or against PSE’s application to add a transmission line between the two substations on Monday, since testimony before a hearing examiner concluded last November.

“Perhaps you can picture them in black robes,” said City Attorney Lori Riordan of Monday’s quasi-judicial process, where the council deliberated the project’s approval but could not receive more facts to assist its decision.

The project’s controversy with CENSE and neighbors in Lake Hills and Phantom Lake revolves around 295 mature trees that will have to come down to make way for power poles and the transmission line that will connect the two substations.

PSE began planning the addition of a second transmission line connecting the two substations in 2006, wanting to ensure residents wouldn’t lose power when a line to either substation went down.

Working with the city of Bellevue, area businesses and residents, PSE came up with a 2.89-mile route for the new 115-kilovolt electrical transmission line along Southeast 16th Street, 148th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street.

PSE will pay the city $856,000 for the material costs to replace the lost trees and add more landscaping. A 5-year monitoring plan is also included in plans to ensure the new plantings survive.

Councilmembers were required to disclose any contact with the public or other officials about the project ahead of Monday’s deliberations and whether those communications affected their ability to make an impartial decision.

Mayor Claudia Balducci said Steve Kasner with the East Bellevue Community Council — which will take its own vote on the project following the city council’s action — had expressed his opposition to PSE’s plans on a few occasions in the past several weeks. She added those comments would not influence her decision, herself residing between the two Bellevue substations and being frustrated by the duration of past power outages there.

“How you connect that circuit is very challenging, and that’s what we’re here talking about this evening,” Balducci said.

The council voted 5-2 to push final approval of PSE’s application to May 4, allowing time to consider potential amendments to the conditional use permit and shoreline CUP. Lynne Robinson and Jennifer Robertson voted in dissent.