By Catherine Kozak

The Virginian-Pilot

A power line upgrade project expected to start last week has been suspended because of a court-ordered stay granted to the town of Kill Devil Hills.

Dominion North Carolina Power had planned to begin installation last Tuesday of 88 new poles to carry high-voltage lines from Kitty Hawk to Nags Head. The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued the stay on Wednesday, pending the outcome of an appeal filed in October.

"While I am pleased to learn that the town has been successful in securing the stay order," Kill Devil Hills Mayor Ray Sturza said in a statement, "I am disappointed that it has become necessary for the town to turn to the judicial system in order to have our concerns evaluated on a level playing field."

The town contends that plans to install the 85-foot electric poles and lines along the U.S. 158 bypass violate the town ordinance that restricts multiple utility corridors.

The transmission line corridor is located along the sound in Kill Devil Hills, and low-voltage distribution lines along U.S. 158 in the town are on shorter poles.

An order issued last September by the North Carolina Utilities Commission said the town had no jurisdiction to decide the location of the power lines, prompting the town to file the appeal.

Kill Devil Hills had proposed alternate sites to Dominion, but the power company rejected them, Sturza said in August .

"They had the option of retrofitting the sound line corridor with the new lines, or going out to the 158 bypass with new lines, or removing the soundside lines," he said.

Dominion spokesman Chuck Penn

said in August that the town's proposals would be expensive and result in costs being passed on to consumers. The $9 million project would not involve any rate increase, he said.

The power company, which serves 120,604 customers - counted by meters, not people - in northeastern North Carolina, has said that it expects the 7 -mile project to double the available electrical capacity and to expand its ability to reroute power in its coverage area during outages.

With the 35,000 Outer Banks customers ballooning to as many as 300,000 at the height of the tourist season, the company says the improvements will provide the additional power necessary to meet demand during peak loads.

"The need for the new transmission line is well documented," Penn said Friday, "and once the jurisdictional issue between the Utilities Commission and Kill Devil Hills is resolved, we do feel confident that the project will proceed."

Although the proposed plans have construction starting in Kitty Hawk, Penn said the entire project is suspended until the appeals court issues its decision.

The Court of Appeals is expected to release opinions on Sept. 16, but it is not known if the decision on the Kill Devil Hills appeal will be issued then.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711,

cate.kozak@pilotonline.com

the argument

Kill Devil Hills contends that plans to install 85-foot electric poles along the U.S. 158 bypass violate the town ordinance that restricts multiple utility corridors.

Originally published by BY CATHERINE KOZAK.

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