Lynn forms new power line committee

LYNN – A new committee designed to specifically address issues pertaining to relocating electrical transmission wires near the General Edwards Bridge has been formed according to City Council President Tim Phelan.The Power Line Committee is tentatively scheduled to meet in the coming weeks, and will spend a short amount of time bringing the members up to speed with the proposed relocation plan.”The City Council has created a power line committee for the sole purpose of addressing the power line issue and looking at where they could be moved to,” Phelan said. “We have some possible locations of where to move the lines.”Phelan said the committee would consist of approximately five people, including him as the chair and that the members have yet to be announced.”So far we have three out of five people lined up, and some other people came up to me last night inquiring about the committee, so we’ll have to work it all out,” he said.The city of Lynn received $2.5 million in state funds in 2007, directed at helping to pay to move the electrical wires from an area near the General Edwards Bridge where they currently impede waterfront development to the other side of the Lynnway.Previously, Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. said the funds could be used to relocate the power lines from where they stand on the South Harbor site, to the other side of the Lynnway behind businesses and a right of way road behind General Electric.By moving the power lines, the city would be able to act on the recently approved Waterfront Master Plan, which would develop more than 250 acres of prime real estate and spur a multitude of activity in the city.Phelan said the committee was formed to help move the anticipated project along in order to make the waterfront plan a reality in the near future.”Because we have already come so far, we basically decided to form this committee just to address the importance of this issue,” he said.A plan has been prepared for National Grid based upon a ground survey conducted by BSC Group Inc. in 2007 that shows existing conditions and proposed areas where the power lines could be redirected.Phelan said the committee would review the plan.