UI to Greenfield Hill: Barking up wrong tree in quest for underground power lines

Plans to remove thousands of trees in Fairfield were questioned by Greenfield Hill area residents Tuesday, with several focusing on the option: Why not finally begin putting power lines underground?

A forum on the controversial eight-year plan to scale back trees around power lines throughout United Illuminating Co.'s service area was presented by the power company at Greenfield Hill Congregational Church Tuesday night, organized by the Greenfield Hill Village Improvement Society and several Representative Town Meeting members. About 40 people attended.

The utility's tree-trimming plan was formulated in response to long-term power outages during severe storms in recent years when, in many cases, fallen trees and branches knocked down and damaged power lines.

According to town Tree Warden Ken Placko, 20,000 to 25,000 trees will be removed throughout town under the plan, with the bulk of them in the Greenfield Hill area.

"After those storms of 2011 and 2012, those of us in the utility business spent an entire year answering questions," Dave Goodson, manager of vegetation management for UI, said regarding outages caused during Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy. "It was a long year."

"We were told something has to be different," he said.

"When it comes to outages in Connecticut, it all begins and ends with trees, because during extraordinary weather events, just about nine out of 10 outages are caused by trees," Goodson said.

Several people, however, expressed concerns about the tree-trimming plans.

"It sounds like a clear-cutting of trees," said Terry Willie of Fairfield, who asked how such a large number of trees could be projected for removal when, the under plans, each tree is supposed to be assessed on an individual basis.

A Redding Road resident shared his personal "nightmare" of having UI's contracted tree removal company -- Lewis Tree Co. -- take down 40 trees on his property without permission.

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UI to Greenfield Hill: Barking up wrong tree in quest for underground power lines