CP&L Residents unhappy about CP&L's big plan

BY MATTHEW WINTER
SALISBURY POST

Some Plantation Ridge residents and others living about three miles north of Salisbury along U.S. 601 want to know why no one had heard of a utility company's plans for a $250-million power plant on nearby timber lands.

The residents also are concerned that the project appears to be a "done deal."

Carolina Power & Light announced Tuesday it plans to build what the industry refers to as a "peaking generation" plant on the site, a 142-acre tract wedged between U.S. 601 and Deals Creek to the west.

If CP&L wins a rezoning from the county and secures the many state and federal permits it needs, workers will clear 50 acres in the center of the tract for the plant. The company promises to leave a 400-foot tree buffer around its property to help reduce plant noise reaching its neighbors.

The company has an option to buy the land from a timber company and plans to apply soon to rezone the land from rural residential to industrial use, company spokesman Mike Hughes said Tuesday. CP&L wants to begin 18-months of construction by the end of 1999.

Such plans have left at least some of the nearby residents wondering if they will ever have any say in what happens next door.

"I've talked with a number of my neighbors, and I can tell you not one of them had heard anything about this," Bob Strang, Plantation Ridge resident, said. "As I'm sure you can imagine, there's not many of us who are happy about this."

Strang said many of his neighbors in Plantation Ridge, a subdivision of about 80 high-end homes, are wondering when they'll get a chance to ask "some of these questions that need to be asked."

Strang would like to know how county officials plan to deal with construction traffic, water and sewer needs and whether the new investment may prompt an annexation attempt by Salisbury.

"And there's no way a power plant is going to increase the property value of any of the land around it," Strang said. "We need to be asking some questions."

Salisbury certified public accountant Ed Hege, who owns about 75 acres adjacent to the proposed plant site, said he hadn't heard about the project until reading the afternoon paper.

"It's amazing to me with all the publicity that normally accompanies anything big coming into Rowan County, this one kind of just crept in the back door," Hege said.

Hege and Strang said they plan to attend any public hearings on the matter. *shPublic hearings

CP&L representatives will have to defend their plans during at least three local public hearings, all as yet unscheduled. One hearing will accompany certification by the state Utilities Commission. Also, Rowan County must rezone the timber land from rural residential to industrial use, and the County Commission must approve a site plan before granting a conditional use permit, according to county planner Marion Lytle.

Lytle said he hadn't heard about the plant plans until the night before it was announced publicly.

Commissioner Steve Blount, one of the county officials who negotiated with Carolina Power & Light, said he's satisfied that the plant will not disrupt the neighborhood, despite being "obviously an industrial project going into a rural atmosphere."

Company officials were "concerned about the noise level of the turbines" even more than county officials were, Blount said. Blount said company officials told him that the plant will produce "no more noise than traffic on (U.S.) 601."

"That calmed us down a little bit," Blount said. *shNoise levels

Plant officials say they will reduce the noise level at the outside edge of their property to within the 75-decibel daytime limit set by the county's noise ordinance. Blount acknowledged that level is "loud, but truck traffic on the highway is 75 decibels."

"They will operate in the heat of the day on a summer day or when it is very, very cold," Blount said, noting that the plant will not be in continuous operation.

"We were comfortable with their effort to keep the noise down to an acceptable level," he said.

Blount called the area's existing pattern of development as "mixed use," with some commercial development on the highway and a "fair number of upscale subdivisions."

But Blount said he is satisfied the power plant will be too far away from those subdivisions to hurt the quality of life in them.

County officials took the initiative in bringing in the power company, calling Carolina Power & Light officials to invite them in for negotiations, after previous negotiations with another power company had not borne fruit. County officials had heard that Carolina Power & Light was looking for a site.

Once county leaders and company officials talked, things moved quickly. Blount estimated no more than a couple weeks went past before the deal was announced.

The county is committing to provide the site with water and sewer service, but Blount said the needs don't appear great and shouldn't be hard to meet.

Hughes, the CP&L spokesman, said his company wasn't trying to catch anyone off guard, adding that there would be "plenty of opportunity for everyone to talk about it."

Although Hughes declined to speculate on what CP&L may be willing to do to ease the worries of nearby residents, he promised company representatives would "get in touch with residents in the next few days."

CP&L wholesales electricity to other utilities and provides power to more than 1.2 million customers in the Carolinas. The company needs the new plant to keep up with demand during the summer and winter, when the public's consumption of electricity peaks, Hughes said. *shPeak times

The plant will generate electricity only during these peak times, or about 11 percent of the year, Hughes said. The plant will house up to seven natural-gas-powered generators, each in form somewhat like a jet engine, Hughes said.

The planned facility is not another one of the company's large, coal-burning power plants designed to supply massive amounts of electricity. Those plants regularly cost up to a billion dollars, Hughes said.

Hughes said CP&L has always been "a good corporate neighbor" at its various power plants. He said CP&L plans to "do everything we can to ensure the facility is aesthetically neutral or pleasing."

The company will use "silencing technology," Hughes said. Between the company's high-tech mufflers and the 400-foot natural buffer, residents won't be drowned out by plant noise, Hughes said.

"From what I've been told, you will be able to stand on the property line and carry on a conversation unimpeded," Hughes said.

Hughes also predicted residents wouldn't have any problem with air pollution. Since the plant will only generate electricity during peak times, the company can afford to use natural gas Ð a relatively expensive fuel for a power plant Ð from a nearby pipeline to power its generators.

The generators are designed to use natural gas and a fuel oil, but CP&L plans to limit the amount of oil it burns at the site.

"Obviously, we wanted to put the plant close enough to an existing natural gas supply because that is our fuel of choice," Hughes said. Gas is more expensive than oil, coal or nuclear fuel, but CP&L plans to recoup that ongoing cost up front. The natural gas plant is easier and cheaper to build.

"Natural gas is the preferred source for peaking power because you're not burning it all the time," Hughes said.