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A University of Kentucky plan to install steel utility poles along a stretch of Euclid Avenue has sparked concern among residents that the university has reverted to being a Goliath, intent on pursing its own plans with little regard for its neighbors.
Residents say they are angry that UK worked on the plan with Kentucky Utilities for more than a year without informing the neighborhood association or 3rd District Councilman Dick DeCamp.
In a letter to UK President Lee T. Todd Jr., John Michler, president of the Aylesford Neighborhood Association, asked the university to withdraw its plan. The association also asked Mayor Jim Newberry to deny any required city consent for the proposal.
"I can tell you, it's so aggravating," said Mike Meuser, neighborhood association board member.
Susan Straub, spokeswoman for the mayor, said the city has "conditionally denied the permit to give the city and university time to explore alternatives."
"The mayor does not like the concept," Straub said. "He does not think it is in keeping with our efforts to improve neighborhoods near campus." However, Newberry recognizes that alternative plans are costly and that UK's new hospital needs additional power.
The high voltage poles would replace existing poles in the area. They would supply additional power to the $525 million university hospital and parking garage, now under construction.
Bob Wiseman, university vice president for facilities management, said, "We probably should have taken it to the neighborhood sooner."
He will meet with officers of the Aylesford Neighborhood Association on Monday night "to explain all the details" and clear up "misconceptions" about the project.
One misconception, he said, is that many neighbors think the poles will be similar to high-voltage poles on Cooper Drive that are 871/2 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter at the base.
On Euclid Avenue, the university wants to eliminate five poles and replace 11 other poles with steel ones. On Woodland Avenue, three steel poles will be added. The poles would be 75 feet to 84 feet above ground and 20 inches in diameter, said KU spokesman Cliff Feltham.
A pole at the corner of Euclid and Woodland would be 80 feet tall and 4 feet at its base. One at Euclid and Rose Street would be 75 feet tall and 5 feet at the base.
Feltham said these are the smallest poles that can be used for the high-voltage lines.
"I don't think there was any intent to withhold information," Wiseman said. "We did not think we were significantly changing the existing power line situation along the Euclid Avenue corridor because of the existing large utility poles that are already there."
Until last week, Michler and DeCamp said, they had heard only rumors of the project. Wiseman met with Newberry for the first time April 23.
DeCamp, councilman for 12 years, said he did not learn of the project until Friday. "The Town and Gown Commission meets once a month and UK meets with the Neighborhood Council on a monthly basis, and they never brought this up," DeCamp said.
He said he was worried the poles would be "a real negative intrusion on Euclid Avenue and on Woodland."
Burying the lines would cost more than $8 million, Wiseman said.
He said he talked about the project two months ago at the Neighborhood Council.
Both groups were set up in recent years to improve communication among residents, law enforcement and the university. For the most part, "open dialogue and cooperation have avoided a lot of conflict and misunderstanding," Michler said.
A KU timeline for relocating the utilities states that UK has requested that all of the high-voltage lines be relocated by Aug. 1 so construction of the hospital is not delayed.
The poles, manufactured specifically for this project at a cost of $277,700, have been delivered.
Feltham was not aware of the controversy or that Newberry has at least temporarily denied a work permit on relocating the poles. He did not know what the next step would be.
