The growing focus to improve electric grid reliability is not sitting well with all Texans. The Flower Mound Town Council and several residents have spoken out against the proposed location of Oncor’s transmission line project.
Plans for the project dubbed ‘Ramhorn Hill Dunham 345 Kilovolts Transmission Line Project’ are available for the public to see on Oncor’s website.
According to the electric company and ERCOT, the project is critical to pump more power into homes and businesses.
“We would be extremely close, less than 500 feet from what they're proposing,” Andy Cantrell said.
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Cantrell and his wife have lived in the Timberwood neighborhood for three years. Their neighbors across the street in the Canyon Tree community would also be affected.
“We looked in a lot of neighborhoods around, and we found other nice houses, but they were near powerlines,” Cantrell said. “We are convinced that if powerlines come up across the street, our house value would depreciate significantly.”
However, according to an email from an Oncor spokesperson, the proposed routes are designed after considering “the impact of power lines on property values, any environmental impacts, historical and aesthetic values, possible effects on recreational and park areas, as well as cost, engineering constraints, and potential use of existing rights-of-way.”
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Last week, Flower Mound Town Council passed a resolution echoing the concerns of Cantrell and neighbors and asking Oncor to consider a different area and participate in a community meeting.
“Really the only avenue we have as a council to show our residents and to show an entity that we're not necessarily happy is to go ahead and issue a resolution,” Derek France, mayor of Flower Mound said. “Having even an idea that these transmission lines are going to run through several neighborhoods and several backyards is quite frankly, we're not happy with that. There's plenty of uninhabited land and not only that, there is plenty of land that will never be developed.”
France, Cantrell and others hope the final route for transmission lines will be further south. However, that area belongs to the Army Corps of Engineers and would require its approval.
“I mean, we are open for business. We like power, but let's just come to the table, and see if we can come up with a better solution,” France said.
In a statement, Oncor responded to public concern:
“The completion of this new transmission line is essential for supporting continued growth and service reliability for the area. However, any time Oncor builds a new transmission line, we follow a very thorough, carefully developed and regulated process, which includes engaging with local communities. We understand residents and landowners may have questions or concerns, and we take our responsibility to respond to those very seriously. Our team remains committed to listening to and communicating with the residents of Flower Mound and the surrounding areas and we encourage any resident with questions on this project to reach out to us for more information.”
Oncor confirmed representatives will attend Flower Mound’s work meeting scheduled for Jan. 19.
For a general overview of how Oncor handles transmission projects, click here.
To submit comments or concerns about the project, contact Oncor’s project manager at transmissionprojects@oncor.com or 214-486-4918.
