Grassroots Fairfield Groups Appeal Siting Council's UI Decision

Information from Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust:

FAIRFIELD, CT — A diverse group of Fairfield property owners, businesses, and non-profit and religious institutions has officially filed an appeal in Superior Court challenging the Connecticut Siting Council’s final decision to approve an overhead transmission lines application initiated by United Illuminating (UI) and an alternative plan proposed by the Siting Council itself.

This appeal comes at the same time as a similar appeal filed by the Town of Fairfield, increasing the pressure on the Siting Council and UI.

The Siting Council is the state regulatory agency that approves utility projects. The plaintiffs in the appeal are seeking a court decision to reverse the Siting Council’s decision and mandate the Council to deny UI’s application.

Among the plaintiffs in the appeal is the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The project will have a devastating impact on 647 historic properties located within the City of Bridgeport, 130 historic properties located within the Town of Fairfield and 195 historic properties located within the Village of Southport.

The plaintiffs were impacted intervenors during months of Siting Council evidentiary hearings attended online by hundreds of concerned residents, business owners and community leaders. In the hearings, the plaintiffs — along with the Town of Fairfield and the City of Bridgeport — repeatedly raised serious issues about the devastating economic, cultural and historic impact of UI’s proposal, and they challenged the very necessity of the project.

The alternative plan, called the “Hannon-Morissette Alternative,” was approved by the Siting Council on February 16, 2024, though it was not included as an option in UI’s application. Thus, UI has submitted no specific details on how to execute the plan or what the impact on properties would be. The plan would allow UI to construct a new transmission route along the north side of the Metro-North train tracks, and would likely build over 100 tall monopoles, ranging in height from 95 to 195 feet high, across 7.3 miles from Southport through Fairfield and into Bridgeport and take approximately 19 acres of permanent easements from private properties.

Among other arguments, the appeal states that the Siting Council’s evidentiary hearings violated the property owners’ constitutional and due process rights; that UI withheld critical information and documentation from the plaintiffs; that the Council’s decision to impose a time limit on cross-examination was arbitrary and unfair; that the Council’s finding that the project’s environmental effects are outweighed by its public need is unsupported by evidence; and that there is no evidence of a public need for the project.

“After the Siting Council hearings, we heard over and over from community members how troubled they were by the Siting Council's clear bias toward the utility, with one set of rules for UI and another for the community,” said Andrea Ozyck, co-founder of Sasco Creek Neighbors
Environmental Trust Incorporated (SCNET), one of the plaintiffs. “This appeal asks a judge to do the job we believe the Siting Council failed to do. They have a stated responsibility to balance reliable, cost-effective electricity with the need to protect the environment and ecology of the state. Approving an undefined plan with undefined impact does just the opposite.”

The groups filing the appeal own property that is adjacent to, or in direct view of, the proposed transmission line monopoles and that will be subject to permanent easements. The project, they argue, will diminish the fair market value of the residential, commercial, historic and
institutional properties, and will adversely impact the use and enjoyment of those properties in Southport, Fairfield and Bridgeport for generations.

“As property owners directly affected by the proposed transmission lines, we are deeply concerned about the enduring economic impacts to our community,” said Ozyck. “This project threatens not only our property values and business development opportunities but also the economic sustainability of our town for decades to come. The sensible solution is to underground the lines and we will continue to advocate for that.”

The plaintiffs are Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust Incorporated; United Properties and Invest II; 2190 Post Road LLC and International Investors, GP; Sasquanaug Association for Southport Improvement, Inc.; Pequot Library Association; David Parker; Trinity Episcopal Church; The National Trust for Historic Preservation; and Stephen Ozyck and Andrea Ozyck.