ICC staff backs ComEd route through Huntley
The dispute over a ComEd plan to run new power lines through Huntley moves to a Chicago court next week.
Attorneys representing ComEd, Huntley and other parties with an interest in the case, such as Gilberts and property owners along the proposed route, will argue their case and seek to undermine opposing testimony.
ComEd can already claim one victory. The staff of the Illinois Commerce Commission, the body that will settle the dispute, has submitted testimony supporting the utility company's position.
The ICC staff testimony, however, provides little basis for supporting ComEd's proposed route beyond asserting its superiority.
"I found no reason to disagree with ComEd's decision to select the Kreutzer Road route for its proposed transmission lines based upon my route inspection," testified ICC engineer Greg Rockrohr.
The ICC staff elaborated in a later filing that it may prove difficult for ComEd to obtain Kane County Forest Preserve land, which it would need for a competing route along Galligan and Freeman roads.
An administrative law judge will weigh the evidence submitted by all parties before making a recommendation to the five-member commerce commission.
The commission could decide the ComEd route as early as March.
Under ComEd's proposal, new transmission lines would run west along Kreutzer Road, turn south a half mile east of Route 47, and continue south along property lines to Interstate 90.
The project is the third phase of the utility company's effort to increase the reliability and capacity of the electrical grid in the Northwest suburbs.
Huntley officials have opposed the route since it was proposed, saying it would interfere with the widening of Kreutzer Road and bring down the value of existing and future developments.
In documents submitted to the Illinois Commerce Commission, the village advocates the Galligan-Freeman route, which would take the lines south along Galligan Road, west along Freeman Road and south to I-90.
But ComEd and the village of Gilberts have argued in testimony to the ICC that the Galligan-Freeman route would have a greater impact than the Kreutzer route.
The Galligan-Freeman route would run through or near the Conservancy development, Gilberts Elementary School and Kane County Forest Preserve land.
But Neumann Homes' November bankruptcy filing casts doubt over whether the 1,000 homes planned for the Conservancy will be built.
Gilberts officials have said other developers could take over the project, and ComEd says that despite Neumann's bankruptcy, the homes are coming at some point.
"Our approach wasn't about any one development," ComEd spokesman Jeff Burdick said Wednesday. "It was about addressing long-term growth in the area. That growth is still there."
Burdick also pointed out that ComEd submitted its proposal before Neumann's announcement.
"The process required us to submit a plan using the best information we had," he said.
ComEd plans to erect the power lines along I-90 by mid-2009 and put up the lines through Huntley in 2011, at an estimated cost of about $40 million, including land acquisition.
The hearings will be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Michael A. Bilandic Building, 160 N. LaSalle St., Chicago.