WILTON — Central Maine Power has purchased a property on Main Street in East Wilton with the intention to build a small substation that would replace an outdated substation now located on Temple Road.

CMP bought the property at 1338 Main St. in East Wilton last month, and on Tuesday CMP representatives met with Wilton town officials, including Town Manager Rhonda Irish and Selectboard Chairwoman Tiffany Maiuri, to discuss the project’s timeline.

Irish reiterated to the Selectboard and those in attendance at their meeting Tuesday night that CMP is in the early stages of the project and will not take project plan to the town’s Planning board until 2017. It is estimated that the substation will be completed in mid-2018, Irish said.

CMP formally began its community outreach when its met with town officials Tuesday. Irish said CMP intends to start holding public meetings on the project in August in order to field questions and concerns from residents.

“They are very much willing to enter a dialogue with the town and the citizens of the town,” Maiuri said.

The proposed substation will serve about 500 CMP customers and will be one of the smallest substations CMP has commissioned, according to Irish.

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There is no room to expand or upgrade the current substation on Temple Road in East Wilton, so CMP had to look elsewhere to make the upgrades to its infrastructure.

The property at 1338 Main St. consists of 5.5 acres with a house standing on the part of the property closest to the road. Irish said the house probably will be torn down, since CMP would have no use for it, but that it shouldn’t be assumed that the substation will occupy the house’s footprint.

CMP is preparing to conduct land surveys on the property to determine the best location for the new substation. It expects to finish its engineering plans in 2017, and then they will then need to be taken to the Planing Board for approval, according to Irish.

The CMP substation on Flagstaff Road in Wilton, which serves 2,296 customers, will remain as it is.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the Selectboard approved the hiring of Adam Cody to replace outgoing code enforcement officer Roger Williams, who is retiring at the end of June. Cody needs to obtain certification as a code enforcement officer, but he has a year to do so after obtaining the position.

The Selectboard also approved the draft of the town warrant, which will go before voters for approval at Town Meeting on June 20. The warrant totals 52 articles.

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Also, the board accepted a bid of $919 from Snowman Group, of Bangor, as the winning bid for printing this year’s town report.

Lauren Abbate — 861-9252

labbate@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate

 


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