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June 10, 2004
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June 10, 2004 |
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EDITORIAL Chance to make East Enon safer Residents who live on East Enon Road and Golden Willow Court are concerned about a Village project to upgrade an electric line that passes through their neighborhoods. They say the new poles that would be needed for the line will pose a safety hazard, and have asked the Village to bury the line. The neighbors have a right to be concerned for their safety and the safety of their children and others traveling along East Enon. But the Village’s plan to hang, instead of bury, the power line also makes sense financially. While the Village continues to develop the project, Village officials, including Council, should work with the neighbors to develop ways to make East Enon safer. The issue here is a plan to upgrade a power line providing electricity to YSI Incorporated, businesses on the south end of town, the educational facilities on East Enon, The Antioch Company, Vernay Laboratories’ Dayton Street property and some residential customers. Projected to cost over $60,000, the line also would increase the electric system’s reliability, Village officials say. Village plans show the line running along East Enon, in Miami Township, across private property, to U.S. 68 and YSI. Because the line is larger, the Village must erect more poles that are larger and taller than the poles currently on East Enon. The Village also has said that burying the line would be very expensive and impractical for a major electrical circuit. Residents in the area of East Enon and Golden Willow Court have said that they are concerned the larger poles will make what they consider a dangerous road (East Enon) less safe. They note that drivers, cyclists and pedestrians are using the road, and, of course, East Enon was the site of a fatal accident this spring. The residents also say that the larger line and its thicker poles could hurt their property values and diminish the rural atmosphere in their neighborhood. It’s difficult to understand how the extra poles will make East Enon more dangerous. The Village, for instance, plans to move the utility poles away from the road (some of the existing poles are too close to the road), which should eliminate possible obstructions. One drawback, however, is that the plan would require some tree trimming and tree removal. Council should seek a compromise with the neighbors that allows the Village to move forward with hanging the new power line, with the promise that the Village would work with the residents to increase safety on East Enon. Council, for instance, could take a page out of the playbook of the Yellow Springs school board and request that Greene County, which controls the road, lower the speed limit on East Enon to 35 miles per hour from 55. As the school board president, Richard Bullock, said in a letter to the Greene County engineer, Robert Geyer, a lower speed limit would “provide a greater margin of safety” for drivers and “greater safety for the students and others who use the road on foot or on bicycles.” A planned, concerted effort involving the Village, school board, Miami Township and local residents could make East Enon safer. It would also tell the neighbors that their concerns were not completely ignored. Finding a compromise seems better than building animosity over what should not be a controversial project.
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