The Adirondack Park Agency will consider Friday a power-line route realignment in Colton that feeds electricity to the park's tri-lakes region.
Reliability has been an issue. Both Tupper Lake and Lake Placid have municipal systems but have complained of blackouts because of overuse and weather-related troubles on the National Grid framework delivering the electricity.
In 2006, the APA approved a permit to the New York Power Authority authorizing the construction of a 26.8-mile-long, 46.5-kilovolt overhead electric transmission line in the towns of Colton, Parishville, and Piercefield in St. Lawrence County, including adjacent access roads, a regulator station and a substation. The line is 46.5 miles long and will eventually become the property of National Grid.
The route included a 6.9-mile cut-around of forest preserve along Routes 56 and 3. Even though there was concern about the difficulty of arranging a constitutional amendment to go through the state forest preserve, it became clear a more direct route made sense, APA spokesman Keith P. McKeever said.
"Ultimately, it comes down to a shorter line, less expensive to maintain," he said. "Right now, a constitutional amendment is being sought."
The proposal the APA will consider in committee Thursday and before the full board Friday realigns the route so it parallels Route 56 for 3.4 miles and includes 1.86 miles within the forest preserve.
The APA has received little comment about the route change, possibly because many people expressed their views during the initial rounds for the project, Mr. McKeever said.
"The environmental groups were kind of on board then," he said. "This is less tree cutting and more environmentally conscious."
The amendment to the constitution will allow the transfer of up to 6 acres of forest preserve for the project that will be conveyed to National Grid. The utility will in return convey 10 acres on the south branch of the Grasse River in the town of Clare for addition to the forest preserve.
The constitutional amendment to Article 14, which dictates that the forest preserve will be kept forever as wild, is a multi-part process, involving agreement twice by the state Legislature followed by approval in a general election.
NYPA hopes to have the issue on the November ballot in 2009, spokeswoman Connie M. Cullen said.
"We are confident the constitutional amendment will pass because it has the support of the general public in the local communities, the municipal officials, Senator Betty Little and the environmental groups. This is a sensible approach to the route," Ms. Cullen said. "In the unlikely event that the constitutional amendment does not pass on the first try, NYPA and National Grid have agreed to continue to pursue the amendment with its supporters until it passes."
Construction has already begun on the northern and southern ends of the line. If the APA approves the permit this week, work on the middle section of the line will begin after state Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Transportation review.
"It could start in late spring," Ms. Cullen said. "We anticipate the line being in service this winter."
