Portland City Council will make the final decision on plans by Portland General Electric (PGE) to expand power lines in Forest Park. A city hearings officer approved PGE’s plans, but the Forest Park Neighborhood Association and Forest Park Conservancy appealed the decision, which means the matter now goes to city council.
The two appeals will be heard together by city council on Thursday, April 17 at 2 p.m.
PGE proposes to upgrade an existing transmission line that runs through Forest Park and add a new 1,400-foot line in the same right-of-way. Some environmentalists opposed that because it would require removal of about 400 trees and would affect wetlands and wildlife habitats. But the city hearings officer was satisfied with the measures PGE plans to take to offset the impacts, including planting more than 900 smaller-stature trees. Opponents said damage to Forest Park from PGE’s proposed project couldn’t be fully mitigated, and argued that PGE could put new power lines in other locations. PGE said it evaluated 20 potential locations but all others were disqualified because they wouldn’t accomplish PGE’s energy transmission goals or would have even greater costs, community impacts or environmental consequences than the selected site.
