Millis Select Board approves Eversource conduit on Paddock Lane with abutter‑notification condition

The Millis Select Board granted NSTAR Electric Company (doing business as Eversource Energy) permission on Jan. 27 to install underground conduit and manholes along Paddock Lane, but required the company to notify two nearby property owners in advance of any work.

The project petition before the board sought to install approximately 191 feet of conduit to serve 3 Paddock Lane. A separate petition for 5 Paddock Lane was submitted but had not been properly noticed to adjacent property owners and will be taken up separately at the board's Feb. 10 meeting, the town said.

Neighbor Tom O’Connell, who said his driveway abuts Paddock Lane and that electrical boxes and service hardware sit on his property, told the board he had several concerns: Eversource personnel would need to access and dig along his fence line; his yard contains a dog enclosure; and he did not want separate crews to come at different times without notice. “They're gonna have to come onto my property. They're gonna need permission to come onto my property to get through there,” O’Connell said during public comment.

Christine Cosby, the petitioner representing Eversource, told the board the company had submitted two petitions but that only the application for 3 Paddock Lane had been noticed for this hearing. She confirmed that if work for 3 were approved but a separate approval for 5 followed later, Eversource would coordinate construction timing so the company would not dig the same area twice. “If 3 gets approved … you’ll wait until it’s all approved,” Cosby said, adding that the company would hold the approved plan in the rights division until the second petition was processed.

Board members pressed for protections for O’Connell and other abutters. The motion the board approved requires Eversource to notify the owners of 35 Paddock Lane and 18 Rolling Meadow Drive in advance of the date of the work. The board made the approval contingent on that advance notice and asked Eversource to include contact information for the abutters in the permit paperwork so the town can confirm proper notifications.

Why it matters: the conduit installation will route power and communications infrastructure to new homes on Paddock Lane, but work crosses or runs adjacent to private property. The board’s condition aims to reduce the chance of unforeseen access during construction and to give abutters an opportunity to make arrangements for pets and fence protection.

What the board approved (in the motion): permission to construct and install a line of conduits and manholes with necessary wires and cables under Paddock Lane (northerly approximately 200 feet north of Rolling Meadow Drive, approximately 191 feet of conduit at PMH 17075) subject to advance notification of the date of work to 35 Paddock Lane and 18 Rolling Meadow Drive.

Next steps: Eversource will provide the abutter contact information to the town’s rights division; a separate petition for 5 Paddock Lane will be scheduled for the Feb. 10 Select Board meeting after legal notice to abutters is completed.

Direct quotes from the hearing: - Tom O’Connell (property owner): “They’re gonna have to come onto my property. They’re gonna need permission to come onto my property to get through there… I don’t want them coming in when we leave the dogs out randomly.” - Christine Cosby (Eversource): “This gets approved tonight. I will hold this, and I will offer these to construction. It will stay with me in the rights division.”

Provenance: the petition and hearing, including public comment from an adjacent property owner and the petitioner’s response, were recorded in the Select Board meeting transcript for Jan. 27, 2025.