Woburn Denies Eversource Permit For Massive Utility Project

WOBURN, MA -- Woburn City Council denied a special permit to Eversource Tuesday, which wanted to install a 345 kilovolt high voltage transmission line underground from the Eversource building at Horn Pond. The transmission lines would have continued along Lake Avenue, Pickering Street and Border Street, then crossed over Main Street and continued into Stoneham, Winchester and Wakefield. Those three towns are considering similar requests by the utility.

Eversource has been meeting with officials in all four communities to get final approval for the project, which has already been approved at the state level. In Woburn, Councillors raised concerns in a series of public hearings about potential health concerns, among other concerns. City Council's complete denial order was posted on the City Website Thursday.

A spokesperson for Eversource was not immediately available for comment Friday morning. The $137.7 million is part of a major overhaul of the utility's transmission system. The project would have taken 22 months, including eight months of construction and expected road closures in Woburn. In addition to digging four-foot wide, five-foot deep trenches to bury the conduit, the Woburn portion of the work would have included constructing 11, permanent concrete enclosures measuring eight-by-30 feet.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).