Cabin and property owners unhappy about a high-voltage power line plan filed a formal complaint Thursday with the Public Service Commission against Utah Power & Light.
Members of the Brighton Improvement Association have been trying to persuade UP&L to bury a one-mile section of the power line instead of stringing the line over cabins and parking lots in the Brighton bowl area near the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The group had even raised the money to pay for the trench, said association President Dixon Merrill, which was the association's part of a never-completed agreement with UP&L to bury the line. The power line was temporarily strung through the area on wooden poles in 1986 and crews started installing permanent, metal pole structures Tuesday, Merrill said.
He believes the line and poles create a safety hazard, but most of all the property owners think the line is ugly and contributes to an "unsightly deterioration of the community."
The association's complaint against UP&L alleges the company did not give adequate notification to cabin owners that their power would be cut off and that UP&L has continued work on the line without some of the necessary permits.
But UP&L spokesman Dave Mead said the company has all of the necessary permits, clearances and authorizations needed to proceed with the project. The proposal to put part of the line underground was abandoned by UP&L when the association did not get its trench dug in time, he said.
UP&L crews worked hard to notify Brighton customers their power would be cut off, Mead said.