ONCOR ELECTRIC
A plan by Oncor Electric to add more transmission lines in Taylor didn’t spark a positive reaction among residents and even some local leaders at Thursday’s City Council meeting.
Council members learned Oncor wants to build a 345-kilovolt line in the city, but a company representative said they also wish to hear feedback from the community before seeking approval from the state’s Public Utility Commission.
The utility already has left many Taylor residents upset with the 80-100-foot utility poles Oncor installed in town last year.
The new route could include poles up to 170 feet tall with bases that cover 20 to 30 feet on each side. The new poles will require 100 to 200 feet of easement each, city officials heard.
Council members were firm about not repeating the issues of last year and erecting the large poles across town.
“We don’t want these big lines going through the city. I think we’ve already made it clear to you, you’ve heard it tonight. I know you’ve already communicated it to your management,”
Councilman Kelly Cmerek told Oncor representative Cory Miksch.
Mayor Dwayne Ariola added that while going directly from point A to point B might be the most cost-effective path, it was not in the best interests of the community.
“It’s not an option to go through downtown Taylor at all. Do not go through downtown Taylor in any shape, form or fashion,” he said. “You’re going to have to take several turns. When you’re affecting citizens’ property values, it’s just not right.”
Miksch told the council Oncor would take the information and surveys it has collected and propose several routes that would be submitted to the PUC. The PUC would have the final choice over which of the proposed routes to approve.
Property owners within 500 feet of the potential routes would be notified. In addition, Oncor will hold an open house or community meetings before submitting the proposals to PUC. “Oncor is proposing to build a 345-kilovolt transmission line. Just for comparison, the line that has gone up (and) down Main Street north and south and the current line that runs east and west down the southern portion of town, those are 138 kilovolt,” Managing Director Tyler Bybee told the council.
The proposal is to start the line at the Muscovy Switch off FM 3349 and U.S. 79, and run to Voss Lake Switch, then to Walleye Creek Switch which is by the old Alcoa plant.
The types of poles have not been selected, but a proposal shows either monopole bases or lattice structures ranging from 140 to 170 feet tall, almost twice the size of some of the new steel poles on Main.
Oncor informed the city about the project in September; municipal staffers began feeding them information about the study area.
Oncor is conducting surveys, reviewing data and plans to file an application in 2027, according to Bybee.
City staff prepared a map for Oncor that shows the locations of existing development and developments underway, as well as existing and proposed municipal utility districts and employment zone corridors.
Bybee said the map’s purpose is to help Oncor guide the project around the city and future developments instead of going through town.
Community advocate Carrie D’Anna told council members their priorities need to protect residents, not just favor developers.
“There are people that are terrified right now about whose property it will go through and whose it won’t. The most frustrating thing is conversation after conversation keeps happening about future development,” D’Anna said. “Development that’s coming in, corporations that are coming in.”
She urged the elected representatives on the dais to remember their constituents.
“We need you to make sure that transmission line ... goes around the citizens who already exist here and who are paying the taxes for the infrastructure you are building for this future development,” she said. “Take care of the people who are here, not just the people who you are wooing to come in for the tax money.”
