From Jessica Cunha in the Kanata Kourier-Standard:
Ahead of a public meeting with Hydro One to discuss the utility’s plans to maintain its hydro corridors, Neil Thomson said he’s pleased with a proposal put forward by the company.
Hydro One has agreed to a proposal to allow homeowners to trim hedges and trees within the corridor’s safety zone on their properties. It will also schedule consultations with homeowners ahead of any planned work.
“Hydro One tabled a proposal for us which was surprisingly good,” said Thomson, president of the Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association. “They have listened. They have made substantial improvements to the way the process is going to happen.”
A public meeting with Hydro One representatives will take place on Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Mlacak Centre.
The meeting comes after the utility clear-cut its corridor in Morgan’s Grant over the summer with little consultation or notice to the community, and then marked trees in Beaverbrook residents’ backyards with no explanation.
Many of the marked trees are more than 50 years old and located within Hydro One’s easement for its power lines. The corridor overlaps the backyards and properties of at least 125 homes in the area, as well as the Kanata Golf and Country Club.
Homeowners expressed concern Hydro One would remove the vegetation on their properties, so the association, with help from residents in the area, worked over the summer to develop a plan to stop that from happening, meeting with top officials from Hydro One three times in three months.