FPL | FPL’s Bobwhite – Manatee Power Line
Electricity & Our Environment

FPL’s Bobwhite – Manatee Power Line

Latest news - November 2007: 

Certification Hearing for Bobwhite-Manatee Transmission Line Deferred;
New Consensus Alternate Corridor to be Filed

This update is being provided to let you know of a significant development related to Florida Power & Light Company’s (FPL) Bobwhite-Manatee transmission line project. After almost two weeks of testimony by FPL and other witnesses, the judge halted the Certification Hearing at the request of the parties, who wanted to find an agreement that would address their many different concerns.

The Certification Hearing began on October 22 in Manatee County. On the evening of October 24, 2007, about 300 people attended the public testimony portion of the hearing to share with Judge Bram Canter their concerns. In the following days, FPL’s land use, engineering and environmental experts provided evidence in support of the FPL Preferred Corridor.

By the end of the second week, several of the parties approached FPL with a draft agreement that narrowed the corridor on some properties, invited FPL to place easements in specific areas of parties’ properties and suggested a new alternate corridor totally within the boundaries of one party’s property. To allow consideration of this proposal, the parties requested the judge to return the licensing process back to the alternate corridor submittal period so the new consensus alternate corridor could be officially submitted.

The consensus alternate corridor will:

  • Follow the existing FPL preferred corridor north of the Manatee River.
  • Depart from State Road 64 and run south along the previously submitted Taylor and Fulton, Inc. alternate corridor #2.
  • Include a buffer of approximately two hundred feet in width along Taylor and Fulton, Inc.’s southern boundary.
  • Depart Taylor and Fulton, Inc.’s property, and follow the FPL preferred corridor south to University Parkway on SMR land.
  • Continue on SMR lands, running westerly and then southwest into lands within the Heritage Ranch Conservation Easement.
  • Proceed through pasture lands used for grazing along the western side of the conservation easement while avoiding the centrally located Gum Slough wetlands.
  • Exit the conservation easement about one half mile from the southern boundary of SMR’s property and go one mile west to Lorraine Road, on SMR lands
  • Rejoin the FPL preferred corridor and run south to the new Bobwhite substation.

bob white map

To view map click here

 

bob white map

To view map (PDF) click here

SMR, original grantor of the Heritage Ranch Conservation Easement, has agreed to expansions of that Conservation Easement to further protect Gum Slough, to protect additional land from future development and to protect or enhance the environmental values and benefits of certain areas.

Environmental organizations and groups that have intervened in the Transmission Line Siting Act proceedings support this new consensus alternate corridor saying that the net environmental benefit addresses their concerns and provides added ecological value and protection to the Gum Slough area.

FPL agrees with the other parties supporting the Consensus Alternate Corridor that this new corridor strikes an appropriate balance of environmental, land use, engineering and cost considerations, and plans to support its certification.

As we shared with you in earlier communications, there is a provision in the TLSA process for other parties to propose alternate corridors for all or a portion of the transmission line route. Judge Canter has reestablished the deadline for alternate corridor submittal to November 26, 2007, allowing time for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Ltd. (SMR) to submit the new consensus alternate corridor. The next steps will include a submittal of information by SMR on the corridor, and agency review. This revised time frame will require the continuation of the formal hearing presided over by Judge Canter, beginning on May 5, 2008. The time and location of that continued hearing will be published in local newspapers not less than 50 days before the continued hearing. Members of the public will have an opportunity to offer testimony to the Judge at a public hearing commencing at 7:00 p.m. on May 7, 2008, at the same location as the continued certification hearing. The judge will continue to hear testimony and evidence offered by all parties on which corridor should be certified. Considering a balance of land use, environmental, engineering, cost and other factors, the judge will issue a recommended order on the certification, including the identification of the corridor recommended for certification. That recommended order will be submitted to the Governor and Cabinet, who will make the final decision about granting certification for the Bobwhite-Manatee line.

A new schedule has been developed for the TLSA process, and is available on the following web sites of DEP, the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH), and FPL. The addresses for those web sites are as follows:

Department of Environmental Protection: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/siting/Highlights/applications_in_process.htm
See “Transmission Line Applications in Process – Bobwhite-Manatee”

Division of Administrative Hearings:
http://www.doah.state.fl.us/internet/
Enter Docket No. 07-0105TL

FPL: www.FPL.com/Bobwhite

You may also contact FPL regarding this project at Bobwhite-Manateeproject@FPL.com or call us toll free at 1-800-951-8849. Copies of the FPL application and the consensus alternate submittal (once available) are accessible for review at FPL offices as noted below:

FPL Office in Sarasota:
1177 N. Lime Avenue
Sarasota, FL 34237

FPL Office in Bradenton
416 Manatee Avenue
Bradenton, FL 34205

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