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Cranberry approves electrical substation
Source:
Cranberry Eagle
Written by:
Bob Schultz
Published:
August 11, 2010
CRANBERRY TWP — Township supervisors Thursday evening gave the final go-head for the construction of an electrical substation along Marshall Road.
Site grading work on a First Energy electric substation is expected to begin this fall, said Jeff Elser, director of external affairs for Penn Power.
Equipment for the $40 million substation will be ordered in March, and site construction is projected to begin in November 2011. The substation is expected to be in operation in June 2012.
The 20-acre property is surrounded by mostly wooded and undeveloped areas.
The site is at the former On A Roll skating rink on Marshall Road. The skating rink building will be razed.
It is being developed by American Transmission Systems, which is the transmission company for Penn Power, a subsidiary of First Energy, based in Akron, Ohio.
Penn Power has 160,000 customers in Western Pennsylvania, including Butler County.
Three homes along Marshall Road will not see the substation because of the property elevations and the woodlands.
The nearest housing development is Marshall Woods, with the closest home to the substation being at 800 feet.
Trees will be planted to provide additional screening, but much of the woodland areas will remain, except for where the main site work is necessary and in the path of the transmission lines.
Officials from Penn Power in November 2008 had originally proposed to build a substation on part of the 28-acre Lindner property of the Cranberry Community Park off Route 19. A section of the Lindner property is used for the township's dog park.
The park site was initially chosen because it is near Penn Power's large transmission lines along Route 19 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and also because it would eliminate the need for a large number of line poles and the need to buy easements from private land owners.
But the park site was opposed by neighboring property owners and by residents of the Winchester Farms housing plan over safety and other concerns.
With the opposition to that site and at the urging of township officials, the company was able to find another site suitable to its needs on Marshall Road.
Penn Power says the substation is needed to keep up with the area's increasing power demands.
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