CAVENDISH SELECT BOARD MEETING 12/8/14

Select board (SB) meetings are recorded by LPC-TV and are available at their website and on Comcast Television.  Written minutes are available at the town’s website. 

A. Telecommunications: SB members were e-mailed the preliminary findings of the Cavendish Telecommunications Survey. Rich Svec, town manager, said that representatives from TDS, but not Comcast, would attend the January Select Board meeting.

B. New England Power Clean Power Link Project: Rich Chase, Principal TDI New England, spoke to the board about the proposed New England Clean Power Link a  1,000 MW High Voltage Direct Current transmission line that would deliver clean, affordable hydropower to Vermont and the New England marketplace. The privately financed line would be submerged in Lake Champlain and buried in existing rights of way and would run from the Canadian boarder to a converter station to be built on Nelson Rd in Ludlow. This football size building would be just over the Cavendish line and would connect to the Coolidge substation located in Cavendish.

TDI New England, late Monday, Dec. 8, filed documents with the Vermont Public Service Board for approval of the project, promising several benefits to Vermont in exchange for the board's approval. Among the company's promises: $136 million in power cost reductions, made through payments to Vermont's high-voltage power system operator over the 40-year life of the project; and more than $120 million for environmental improvements on the lake. The company had previously applied for federal permits for the project.

The Vermont Public Service Board will now begin a thorough review of the project, and if the application is approved, will issue a Certificate of Public Good, which will detail the terms and conditions under which the project may be constructed and operated.

The expansive filing contains hundreds of pages of facts, testimony and exhibits that describe the project, explains its impacts, and illustrates its benefits to the people of Vermont and New England. The filing is a result of input received from the extensive public outreach that TDI New England has been carrying out over the last year.  The Public Service Board will review the filing and provide opportunities for the public to offer input on the proposed 154-mile project.

The application is available on the New England Clean Power Link web site: and a hard copy will be delivered to the Town office. 

Some of the citizens at the meeting asked questions about radio interference from the proposed converter station, as well as pollution risks. Chase agreed to find out more information about these concerns.

In October, Ludlow’s Select Board endorsed the project.

 C. External Appropriations Requests for FY 2015-2016 Budget: A number of non profit groups that serve Cavendish-Senior Solutions; RSVP; Visiting Nurse & Hospice; VT Rural Fire; Black River Good Neighbors; LPC-TV; Black River Senior Center and SECVA- gave updates on their programs, current utilization by Cavendish residents and requests for the upcoming budget.

D. Solar Project: Panels have been installed and it’s two-thirds ready. Several parts will not arrive until January, but the plan is to test out the system and to be partially on-line by Dec. 31.

E. Skate Board Plan for Greven Field: Members of the Recreation Department provided drawings of a proposed skate ramps etc. for Greven Field.

F. Bridge Projects: The East/Brook Rd Bridge is now open. An approach guardrail will be installed in the spring. Weather dependent, work has been taking place on the Davis Rd Bridge. Completion and first use will not be until spring 2015.