After four-hour public meeting, county planning commission tables conditional use permit issue until next month The Tooele County Planning Commission tabled a decision last night on Rocky Mountain Power’s application for a conditional use permit for a high-voltage transmission line that would go through Tooele County. That announcement came after a more than four-hour meeting during which government officials and residents voiced opposition to the proposed route in a packed auditorium at the Tooele County Building.

The permit is being sought for the Mona-to-Oquirrh Transmission Corridor Project, which would run a transmission line from Mona in Juab County, through Tooele County and on to the Oquirrh Substation in Salt Lake County.

Planning Commissioner Bill Hogan, who made a motion to table the item until the group’s next meeting on March 3, said he thinks planning commissioners should be very thorough and clear when they make their decision. The motion to table the CUP carried with a 3-2 vote. The next meeting will include another public hearing on the issue.

Hogan referred to the situation with a gravel pit at the Stockton Bar several years ago when the county was involved in a legal battle over the issuance of a conditional use permit. The county denied the permit, but it was eventually issued after the landowner appealed. Hogan said the planning commission would need to have thorough grounds for whatever decision it reached on the RMP project.

Kerry Beutler, a Tooele County senior planner whose office advises the commission on technical issues, said, “No matter what decision they [planning commission] make, either for or against, they need to make sure that they have covered all of the bases and have good, solid reasons for acting to approve with conditions, or deny it. And that those are stated clearly so that if and when it gets appealed, then those can be clearly reviewed and looked at.”

Beutler said he and his staff and the commission still have questions about how the project will impact the area and what might be done to mitigate those impacts.

“We need to get in a position where we have specific impacts that have been identified, we have specific measures for mitigation that have been identified, and then the planning commission will determine if they think there are sufficient mitigation measures, and whether Rocky Mountain Power is willing to abide by those mitigation measures,” Beutler said.

Brad Pratt, chairman of the Tooele Concerned Citizens Group, which opposes Rocky Mountain Power’s route along the southeast benches of Tooele, said he was very encouraged by the public input at the meeting.

“I’m not discouraged by the tabling, though,” Pratt said. “This is only one step in the chess game. I’m very much happy that they tabled it and that they continue to allow public comment until they make their decision.”

At the meeting, which lasted for several hours, officials with Rocky Mountain Power conducted a presentation lasting more than two hours that included comments from a property valuation expert and an electric and magnetic fields expert, who claimed the lines aren’t anticipated to cause adverse health affects.

Public comments were also received at the meeting, many of which included concerns about public safety issues, fire risks, visual blight, potential health impacts, reduced property values and impacts to water sources.

Pratt brought signatures from 4,000 Tooele County residents opposing the southeast bench route to the meeting.

“This south bench route that we’re talking about is the greatest impact,” he said. “The choice Rocky Mountain Power has chosen is the greatest impact to our valley.”

Tooele City Council Chairman Scott Wardle asked planning commissioners to table the conditional use permit.

“We ask you to do the right thing,” Wardle said. “We ask you to lead this community. There is no reason to rush to judgment tonight. There are too many questions that simply have not been answered.”

Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy praised those who have been actively involved in getting information about the project.

“I’ve never seen, in my 43 years of public service, a community, a county, a citizens group come together like this county and this citizens group and this valley has on this issue,” Dunlavy said, adding city officials have never been against added power and understand its importance.

Jim Webber, a radiologist at Mountain West Medical Center, said, “I’m not opposed to increased power, and we do need it. We just don’t need it where they’re proposing to put it.”

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com