FAIRFIELD, CT — The Administration of Fairfield First Selectman Bill Gerber responded to recent criticism over an image in a “deeper dive” message about the United Illuminating proposed monopole project, saying the image “is not misleading.”
In the message, which is posted on the town’s website, is an edited photo that shows a Southport home almost cut in half to make room for the monopoles, which are tall poles that would carry high voltage power lines through portions of Fairfield and Bridgeport.
“The photograph is not misleading and accurately demonstrates that if UI obtains the permanent easements it has proposed, it will have the right to demolish this home,” wrote Lisa Clair, Communications Director for the Gerber Administration, in an email to Patch. “The image accurately depicts the location of the boundaries of UI’s expanded proposed permanent easement in this location, as displayed on page 59 of Volume 2 to UI’s application.”
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Click here to view the 134-page application document.
The link to Gerber’s message was broken for a while on Wednesday, but it was not removed from the town’s website, according to Clair.
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“The Deeper Dive email was not removed from the website; rather, a dead link was the problem. That link has now been fixed,” she wrote.
Residents have come out in force to oppose the project, which UI says is needed to modernize and harden its utility system. A petition was launched to oppose the plan, and the grassroots group, Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust, is spearheading much of the opposition efforts.
The project includes the installation of dozens of steel poles, some of which would exceed 150 feet in height, that would carry the transmission lines. Erecting the poles to carry the lines, instead of burying the lines underground, is more cost-effective, according to UI.
Clair cautions that under the UI proposal, the utility company would retain the right to remove impediments, such as buildings.
“In addition, as a matter of fact, UI’s proposed easement – which it submitted to the Siting Council on July 18, 2023 – gives UI the ‘the right, at any time and from time to time, to…remove any structures…without payment therefor,'” Clair wrote.
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Fairfield officials, and some residents and businesses, have filed with the Connecticut Siting Council to be interveners in the project. The council is still reviewing the proposal.
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