50-Foot Power Poles March Through Park Hill
Xcel Project Caught Many Off Guard
By Cara DeGette
Editor, Greater Park Hill News
“Dear Xcel Energy Customer,” the letter began, “We recently began construction in your neighborhood to replace our current electricity poles with new ones. This project is part of our investment to modernize our electric infrastructure throughout the state so we can continue providing reliable, safe service to you.”
The letter was sent last year to many – but reportedly not all – residents of Park Hill whose properties would be impacted. It provided details about the tentative schedule for the work. It asked people to keep their gates unlocked, and their pets indoors.
But nowhere did the letter mention that the old electric poles were being replaced with 50-foot high voltage towers – nearly twice as tall as the existing poles. Nowhere did it mention that many of the trees that grew in the path of the power lines would be radically pruned.
For many residents, what happened next was a shock. In April, Jim Korn, who lives at 17th and Pontiac, came home from vacation to discover a giant new power pole in his yard. “Obviously we were very upset – it was a huge pole.” Korn says he repeatedly called the city and Xcel Energy, trying to get an answer about what had been done. Eventually he reached an Xcel manager, who insisted that property owners had been sent letters of notification. “We have lived at this address for 30 years and never got a letter,” Korn said.
“He was extremely rude and arrogant, and finally just said, ‘We can stick those poles wherever we want on your property, and there is nothing you can do about it.’ ”
Kirk Scheitler, Xcel Energy’s community affairs manager in Denver, says the project to upgrade everyone’s service is necessary. “Our number one duty is to safely provide electricity to our customers,” he said.
Scheitler concedes that the power company could have done a better job providing notification about the work in Park Hill, but says in all, he is only aware of three complaints. Agrees Tony Leeling, Xcel’s manager of field operations, “At the very beginning we had a few complaints, but we’ve had more compliments than complaints about how the new lines have cleaned up the alleys,” he said.
The new poles stretch along 25th Avenue, from Fairfax Street east to the alley between Locust Street and Monaco Boulevard. They also line Magnolia Street, from 26th Avenue south beyond Colfax – which marks the southern edge of the neighborhood. They stretch along 29th Avenue, and along 17th Avenue, from Monaco east.
“My biggest beef is the aesthetics, and in some cases a safety issue,” said homeowner Ted Quinby. “When you look down 25th [Avenue] you see mangled trees, making room for the power wires to go through. Some are completely chopped down the middle with branches off to the side. Many tree limbs are subject to failure because of the way the trees have been pruned.”
Homeowner Brandon Anderson says he is also worried about the health of his family. The new high voltage power line in his backyard now runs directly above a playhouse he recently built for his young daughter.
When they realized just how obtrusive the new poles would be, some residents asked Xcel and the City of Denver to bury the lines underground. As part of its franchise agreement with the city, one percent of all the revenues Xcel collects from its Denver customers goes into what is called the “1% Fund” that is designed to pay for exactly these kinds of projects.
Larry Coffee, who lives between 25th and 26th on Monaco, worked on behalf of his neighborhood block to have the new lines buried through the alley. Coffee emerged a vocal and eloquent critic of the project. He hoped, among other things, to save a tree in his backyard that had been planted by his parents to honor his sister 60 years ago. His efforts ultimately were unsuccessful. The day workers were scheduled to vivisect the tree in his backyard, a uniformed, armed police officer also showed up, in case there was trouble. For Coffee it was the ultimate insult.
“No one is objecting to upgrading the electrical grid,” Coffee said. “However, those along the route of the newly installed high-voltage transmission lines should not bear a disproportionate cost created by degraded aesthetics, increased hazard risk, and depreciation of property values.”
The issue over how the 1% Fund is used in the future inspired the planning and zoning committee of the greater Denver Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation (INC) consortium of neighborhood groups. At its June 28 meeting, the committee unanimously approved a motion asking the city to develop a better policy to determine how – and where – the money is spent.
What happened in Park Hill could potentially happen anywhere,” said INC President Larry Ambrose. “Many people were very upset about this.”
If you or your property have been impacted by the new power lines – negatively or positively – the Greater Park Hill News is interested in your story. Contact editor Cara DeGette at editor@greaterparkhill.org.