City OKs power pole relocation

By Jeremy Twitchell

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 | midnight

Nevada Power is one step closer to relocating power poles along a mostly undeveloped stretch of Galleria Drive to allow the road to be widened after the Henderson Planning Commission voted 4-0 on Sept. 11 to issue the necessary permit.

The project must still be approved by Clark County, because some of the affected properties are within the county's jurisdiction. The county will consider the application next month.

Representatives for Nevada Power said Henderson approached them and asked them to move the poles to make way for the city's plan to widen Galleria Drive. That project, which will add an overpass and freeway interchange at Galleria and U.S. 95, then widen and extend Galleria from U.S. 95 to Lake Las Vegas, has already begun.

The affected poles are on the south side of Galleria, between Wiesner Way and Pabco Road, a distance of about one mile. Nevada Power wants to move the poles to the north side of Galleria to make way for the road widening, and in the process, raise their height from between 64 and 68 feet to between 86 and 110 feet.

Nevada Power representatives told the Planning Commission that the increase would be necessary, because the utility plans to put a new transmission line and distribution line on the poles. Federal code requires those lines to have a minimum clearance over street lights.

"With the potential for growth in the area, we're trying to think ahead," Nevada Power representative Tom Dombrowski said.

Planning commissioners, however, initially balked at the proposed height increases and wondered if there would be a way to make the necessary changes without increasing the pole height. Dombrowski told them it would be possible to bury the transmission lines, but because of the heat they generate, they would have to be shielded.

Dombrowski said that since the city requested the move, the city is paying for it, that city officials didn't want to pay the extra expense to bury the lines. Commissioner Terry Mannion said she had discussed the application with the Henderson Public Works Department, and employees there had confirmed that.

"This is really the simplest, easiest and most efficient way to do this," Dombrowski said.

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or jeremy.twitchell@hbcpub.com.