East Wichita residents protest proposed Westar lines in neighborhoods

Nancy Compton says she enjoys life in quiet Shadybrook.

Her house, which abuts a field to the south, is a perfect place to catch glimpses of white-tailed deer or wild turkeys, she said. The neighborhood, just south of Central and east of 143rd Street, is lined with large lots with expansive green lawns under the shade of trees.

“It is just a haven,” she said.

However, she may have to get accustomed to seeing the glint of shiny steel in her backyard in the mornings.

Westar Energy recently proposed re-routing its high-voltage transmission lines through residential areas in east Wichita, inciting anger among residents, as evidenced by the 500 or so people who protested the move last week.

“When there’s another option, it makes it totally unacceptable,” Compton said. “This wouldn’t be right if it was going through a neighborhood of five houses, and it’s not right now.”

Westar spokeswoman Gina Penzig said the issue began when the Kansas Department of Transportation told the utility company that existing transmission lines along Kellogg would have to be moved to allow for highway expansion. The lines connect the Springdale substation, on Kellogg east of 143rd Street, with the Beech substation, near Central and Greenwich Road.

“They told us there was a certain clear area, or buffer zone, that needed to be around the area,” she said. “With that information, we started examining potential paths to re-route the line.”

Westar said its proposed new routes could run along 143rd Street, Central, 13th Street and Greenwich, in addition to cutting across fields bisecting Shadybrook and Belle Terre.

Once engineers proposed the routes, Westar invited homeowners who would be affected to attend an open house last week. And they showed up in force.

Representatives from Westar and the transportation department were surrounded by angry residents from the Shadybrook, Overbrook, Crestview and Belle Terre neighborhoods.

“My kids are going to be playing directly under these lines that they’re proposing,” said Shadybrook resident Holly Cole. “When they say, ‘Hey, we’re going to take your property and cut down all your trees and fences,’ there’s not a whole lot you can do about it other than complain as loudly as you can.”

Westar has not made a final decision yet, company officials emphasized. Penzig said Westar was notified last week that the lines could potentially remain along Kellogg if they adhere to guidelines laid out in the department’s 2007 Utility Accomodation Policy.

As a result, Penzig said, Westar will be evaluating new routes along Kellogg before making a final decision.

“I think that seems like a much more effective option,” she said. “We just need to make sure it’s feasible from an engineering standpoint and give those landowners a voice in that process.”

Homeowners received letters from the utility company saying a decision was to be made by the end of February; that deadline has now been extended.

As Wichita’s only electricity provider, Westar possesses the legal power of eminent domain, allowing the company to seize private property for its use, with compensation provided to the landowner.

“We know this has a big effect on them,” Penzig said.

Jon deJong, a lawyer who lives in Shadybrook, said once Westar makes its decision, “spending money on litigation would be a fruitless exercise.”

“That was kind of an eye-opener for me,” he said. “As a lawyer, I hadn’t come to grips with it personally – the extent of power they could exercise without really any oversight. It just seems like an entity like that really does need a little more supervision than the Kansas law provides.”

Residents cited safety concerns, property devaluation and neighborhood aesthetics as reasons not to proceed with the re-routing plan.

“They belong in public corridors, not in residential areas,” said Tom Compton, Nancy’s husband. “From a safety and serviceability standpoint, if nothing else. It’d be really hard to get in my backyard and service that son of a gun.”

Sedgwick County Commissioner Dave Unruh, who represents the area, also lives along the route of the proposed lines, on Central.

“It would be right in my backyard,” he said. “If it comes down Central, I’m going to be advocating that it goes on the north side. Then my neighbors and friends on the north side of the street will be advocating that it goes on my side.

“This has the potential to create some neighborhood animosity.”

Unruh said he has had lengthy talks with his constituents about the issue in person, over the phone and through e-mail.

“Like my neighbors, we are agitated and upset by what some of the potential prospect of this is,” he said. “Clearly the logical resolution is to leave this on the right of way on a major highway thoroughfare and not bring it into established neighborhoods.”

A petition against the proposal for lines around Shadybrook was drafted by deJong, and it garnered 349 signatures. It was submitted Saturday to Westar, the Wichita City Council, the Department of Transportation and a few legislators.

Under one of the proposed plans, deJong’s wooded backyard would be largely deforested, he said.

“It really would be a tragedy for them to go into that area and rip everything up, put a lot of big holes back there,” he said. “It would be just borderline criminal.”

Westar plans on meeting with the public again in March to discuss the potential re-routing, Penzig said.

“We’ll reach out,” she said. “We want to give them an opportunity to come and talk with us about the project and share any concerns together before we make a final decision.”

Homeowners in the affected area will be made aware of the upcoming open house.

“It really is nice to live here; it’s quiet and a lot of people don’t even know where the neighborhood is,” deJong said. “We’d just like to keep it that way if we can.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2015 at 8:45 PM with the headline "East Wichita residents protest proposed Westar lines in neighborhoods."