Milford Aldermen postpone vote on three United Illuminating easements after extended questioning

The Milford Board of Aldermen on April 7 postponed action on three utility easements requested by United Illuminating for the Millvaughn–West River 115-kilovolt transmission-line rebuild, voting 8 in favor and 7 opposed to table the items until the board’s May meeting.

The easements — described by United Illuminating counsel Jody Driscoll as two permanent aerial-rights parcels and one temporary access parcel linked to work at the Milford train station — were the final segment of a multi-year project approved by the Connecticut Siting Council in 2022. Driscoll told the board the company will not place poles on city-owned parcels and that the easements are primarily to allow the rebuilt lines to “sway” safely and to permit tree trimming and limited access for construction and maintenance.

Why it matters: the work runs along a busy rail corridor and touches downtown Milford near the train station and adjacent properties. Aldermen raised questions about visual impacts, electromagnetic field (EMF) effects, precise structure heights, the geographic extent of any sway over city land and the adequacy of materials provided in advance. Several aldermen said they had not seen the siting-council submission or visualization materials before the meeting and asked for those documents to be made readily available.

Details of the request and…