No Village Leadership on Tree Cutting While AEP Ignores PUCO Suggestions

Village Council has no solution on its agenda for Wednesday’s meeting to address the AEP tree-cutting problem. Thus, with a lack of leadership in Village government to solve this problem, AEP has been left to do pretty much what it wants with our trees.

At its last meeting on September 16, 2009, Council hosted representatives from AEP and the PUCO (Public Utilities Commission of Ohio) to search for solutions that would balance the need for reliable electric power while maintaining Granville’s tree lined streets. Council members appeared open to a meaningful discussion of a wide range of solutions, and representatives of the PUCO were willing to discuss alternatives to aggressive tree cutting. But AEP sent one of its public relations employees to do most of the talking, and this representative was open only to the company line: take down big Granville’s big trees and plant little ones.

The AEP representative said Granville’s trees would be cut anywhere from 10 to 20 feet from the power lines. Considering that AEP has installed small poles – some as small as 40 feet, some of which is stuck in the ground – that means that large trees can be decimated during the upcoming tree cutting so they will not be worth keeping. That is what happened to the trees at the bottom of South Main Street. AEP removed telephone poles at the bottom of the hill that were only 35 feet tall. But instead of installing larger poles that would keep the power lines away from the tree growth, AEP installed new poles that are only 40 foot tall. Prior to the installation process, AEP had the surrounding trees cut so aggressively that almost nothing was left but the tree trunks. Shortly thereafter, those trees had to be removed.

Several suggestions were raised at the Council meeting to solve this problem. Suggestions were made that the Village consider placing some of the important power lines underground. The AEP representative criticized this solution as costly and troublesome when the power goes out. What the AEP representative failed to mention is that on the East side of Granville, where many of the power lines have been buried, those circuits are far more reliable. But in downtown Granville where all the power lines are above ground, AEP’s circuit is on the list of worst performing circuits.

Whenever complaints arise about AEP’s aggressive tree cutting, AEP blames the PUCO and states that AEP is only doing what the PUCO has instructed them to do. But at the Council meeting, AEP was not open to any suggestion from the PUCO. At the Council meeting, a PUCO representative suggested higher poles in certain locations. For example, on the 300 block of East College Street, the poles are relatively long: they are 55 feet high. But on the 200 block of North Pearl Street where several outages have occurred, some of the poles are only 40 or 45 feet tall. Lowell Miller of the PUCO suggested higher poles. Mr. Miller said there still would need to be tree trimming, but not as severe as if the poles were 15 feet lower with the 40 foot poles. The AEP representative quickly dismissed the PUCO suggestion.

Another idea was to use more Hendrix cables that allow the power lines to be in a more compact area, thereby requiring less trimming. Again, the AEP representative thought this was a bad idea. Yet, this leaves unexplained why AEP itself installed Hendrix cable on North Pearl Street.

When Council members tried to find solutions before the next cutting, the AEP representative announced a cut date that has been moved up, so now there is no time to talk before the cutting occurs. For weeks, AEP said that the main cutting in the Village would take place during the winter. Well, for AEP, winter comes early. At the September 16^th meeting, AEP announced that the cutting would take place in late October. Now, AEP’s position is that no time exists to find a solution before it starts cutting Granville’s trees.

During the Council meeting, Village Manager Don Holycross was largely silent. However, Service Director Terry Hopkins, a former Asplundh tree cutter, felt the trees either needed to be cut aggressively or they needed to be taken down. Mr. Hopkins felt that only little trees should be planted under the power lines.

At the Council meeting, the AEP representative acknowledged that the Village could complain if it feels the upcoming cutting is too harsh. Speaking of the trees in the Village right of way, he said that “it is the city’s decision, final decision, what to do with that tree out after they notify you that it is going to be trimmed, according to the ordinances that I’ve read.” But with no Village leadership to challenge excessive cutting, excessive cutting and tree loss should be expected in the coming weeks. Interestingly, several Council members and the PUCO seemed interested in working together on a long term plan. Yet, there is no resolution on the Council agenda to make this happen.

Editor’s note: For further information see this article on solutions that provide reliable power with relatively minimal tree trimming.