A proposed 115-kilovolt electric transmission line from Tillamook to Oceanside, approved by the Tillamook City Planning Commission, has been appealed by one of the landowners along the proposed route.

The transmission line, to be built by Tillamook PUD, would run from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) substation on Highway 6 on the east side of Tillamook to a new substation the PUD wants to build in Oceanside. 1.1 miles of the transmission line would be in the city limits. The citys zoning ordinance requires a conditional use permit for utility lines or utility facilities.

According to the applicant, the projects purpose and need are the direct result of increased demand for electricity in the City of Tillamook and the surrounding area, city planner David Mattison said in a staff report. The Applicant is obligated to serve increased load demand through capacity projects like the one being proposed, Mattison said. Construction of the line also allows the PUD to replace aging infrastructure, he said.

Part of the route for the transmission line would use existing right-of-way along Front Street, and a railroad right-of-way that is no longer used. The line would still cross 14 properties, including two existing city parks, Sue H. Elmore Park and Hoquarton Interpretive Park, and two proposed new parks, Peeler Park and Ironworks Park. The 100-foot-wide utility corridor for the transmission line was one of 9 alternatives studied by the PUD, planning commissioners were told.

The city planning commission approved the PUDs conditional-use permit following a hearing Jan. 3. The PUD would still have negotiate easements with individual landowners.

The appeal of the planning commissions decision was filed Jan. 17 by Dennis Johnson and Don Aufdemauer, landowners through whose property located near the hospital the proposed line would go. The two castigated the limitations the transmission line would place on their and others property, claiming it freezes development of much of the citys remaining light industrial land.

Although this may be the cheapest and easiest plan for the PUFD, it is not the plan that has the least financial impact on property owners or the plan that is best for the city, Johnson and Aufemauer charged in their appeal. They suggested routing the line through properties that are already limited to use as pastureland or that had been bought by FEMA instead.

At their meeting Jan. 22, the Tillamook city council will set a date for a public hearing on the appeal. The appeal needs to take place before April 4, Mattison said, in order to comply with the states 120-day rule, which requires a final decision on a land-use application within 120 days.

Tillamook PUD also has to obtain conditional-use approval from Tillamook County for the 5.9 miles of proposed transmission line to Oceanside that would be outside the city limits.