At a Standstill
I’d like to address a situation downtown that we are dealing with. It is the removal of telephone poles. People keep asking, “When are the poles coming down?” The answer is: “As soon as humanly possible.” Eversource is prepared to take them down, the entire infrastructure is in the ground for the wires to be pulled through the conduit, but there is a legal issue to deal with. Before Eversource can pull the wire, which will allow it to power up the underground system that will service their customers downtown, the customers have to grant easements to the town and to Eversource to go on their property.
It seems strange to me that there would be a problem, since the infrastructure is already in place and ready to be utilized, but attorneys for (now) two of the property owners are holding up on granting the easements because they want things included in the easements that are not typical, according to Eversource, which does this all the time. Easements are routinely granted for power and other utility lines to run under properties and over them on poles.
I wrote about this two months ago or more and in the interim, two other property owners have granted the easements, but until these last two do, we are at a standstill. I will keep trying to get this resolved, so we can all enjoy how beautiful the downtown will be without poles, but because of the delay these easements are causing, they won’t be down before year end.
First Selectman Tom Banisch
Madison
Republican Tom Banisch is seeking re-election in November.