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Council ratifies six easements to advance Huron Public Power distribution plans
Summary
Council advanced Ordinance 2026-8, ratifying six easements along Sawmill Parkway to enable underground distribution lines for Huron Public Power. Staff said the project is a first tranche of 12 easements needed to extend service and that the utility cannot solicit customers — customers must opt in.
Huron City Council on March 24 moved Ordinance 2026-8 forward as an emergency measure to ratify acceptance and recordation of six separate easements enabling Huron Public Power (HPP) to install transmission and communication facilities along portions of Sawmill Parkway.
City staff described the six easements as the first of 12 needed to advance an underground distribution route. "Once we get all of our easements down Sawmill Parkway, we will start planning to actually run the distribution lines and start working with the businesses to bring the affordable reliable power that HPP brings," Mr. Hamilton said. He emphasized HPP's legal limitations on retail activity: "We are not allowed to go out and sell to these customers. These customers have to come to us."
Council asked technical questions about routing and whether the work would require cutting the recently rebuilt roadway; staff said crossings and bores were included in earlier project work and the team planned to avoid disturbing the new pavement wherever possible. Members also discussed that taking on certain existing substations (for example, a nearby substation serving a commercial site) would be a separate, more complex undertaking requiring negotiation or purchase.
The ordinance ratified recorded easements and declared an emergency so staff can proceed with related planning and recordkeeping. Staff said additional easements will be brought back to council as they are secured.
