Board approves Dominion rebuild of 115 kV line with conditions, including floodway work

The Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors on May (2025) approved special-exception permits allowing Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion) to rebuild approximately 6.77 miles of a 115-kilovolt transmission line between Balcony Falls and Buena Vista, including work in areas designated as floodway.

The Planning Commission had recommended approval with conditions, and the board voted unanimously to adopt those conditions. The permit package requires “substantial compliance” with the schematic plan and with a table of existing and proposed structure types and heights, limits the maximum increase in structure heights and requires new and replaced structures to be constructed of weathering (Cor-Ten) steel with galvanised or Cor-Ten cross arms. The board record includes an implementation timeline of “by 11/01/2025” and project completion “by 01/01/2029” with a four‑month extension available on written request.

Lane Carr, local permitting consultant for Dominion, said the project responds to aging equipment: “After almost a hundred years of service, this 115 kV line is reaching its end of service life.” Carr described the design change: “we are replacing the lattice structures with the weathering steel h frames.” The company provided a structure-by-structure online map and reported outreach by postcard to affected landowners.

Planning staff noted the work crosses agricultural and residential zoning and a portion of the George Washington National Forest; county regulations require special exceptions for public utilities in those districts (cited in the staff presentation). The Planning Commission attached conditions that included an allowance for a 10% variation in structure height, a prohibition that “no structure shall exceed a 10 [feet] in height” beyond listed values, and required final VDOT and erosion-and-sediment-control approvals where applicable.

A second public hearing dealt with the portions of the rebuild located inside the flood hazard overlay (Zone AE hatched). Staff said three existing structures in the floodway would be rebuilt and one new double-deadhead H-frame would be erected in the floodway. Dominion representatives told the board they had worked with the affected landowner and farmer on access and crop damage issues during phase 1 of the project and reported those discussions were successful.

Board action was recorded as a single motion to approve the special-exception permits with the Planning Commission conditions; the motion passed unanimously. The transcript records the roll-call votes as “Yes” from Supervisors Lyons, Day, McDaniel, Lewis and the presiding chair.

The approvals require further regulatory clearances (VDOT and erosion-and-sediment-control permits where needed) before construction proceeds. Staff also flagged, for future follow-up, removing unused concrete structures to 36 inches below ground level where applicable — an item flagged during the phase‑1/floodway review but not listed as a separate condition for this permit.

Dominion representatives present included Lane Carr (permitting), Sarah Hensley (external affairs) and John Perry (transmission construction consultant). The board’s action sets the rebuild timeline and material standards but leaves detailed permitting and erosion-control approvals to downstream reviews.

The board approved the permits during the meeting and recorded the vote; construction timing remains subject to the required downstream approvals and the implementation schedule included in the permit conditions.