Approximately 8.4 miles of the proposed 8.6-mile 115kv Project transmission line route are within the jurisdiction of Tillamook County (“County”), and the remaining 0.2 miles are within the jurisdiction of the City of Tillamook (“City”). The 115Kv Project crosses approximately 4 miles of land planned and zoned for agricultural use (including land designated Estuary Protection). This agricultural land is located in the bottomland north and west of the City. After crossing Bayocean Road, the 115 Kv Project crosses approximately 4.3 miles of land planned and zoned for forest use. The 115 Kv Project will be within a 50-foot easement east of Bayocean Road and will be within a 100-foot easement west of Bayocean road.
Tillamook PUD formed a Citizens Advisor Group (CAG) to review and recommend a corridor for the proposed transmission line. The location for the Project was selected following a detailed analysis of potential alternative routes and substation locations reviewed by the CAG. This analysis incorporated a systematic rating system that was established for evaluating each alternative, including evaluations of potential impacts to resource lands. Tillamook PUD examined each alternative against a set of established criteria such as permitability, ease of obtaining corridor approval, access, constructability, and a series of other environmental, land use, and financial factors. The original transmission line corridor selected by the CAG was then adjusted based on feedback from public meetings and individual meetings with affected land owners. Adjustment included relocating the transmission line from the middle of farm land to adjacent public corridors including the Port of Tillamook Bay’s railroad right-of-way and Wilson River Loop Road
Wherever possible, the Project has been routed adjacent to or collocated with existing linear developments within the County. These linear developments include the Port of Tillamook Bay’s railroad right-of-way from the substation north to Wilson River Loop Highway, along Wilson River Loop Highway, Goodspeed Road, and along various existing access roads through private forest land in Tillamook County. Parallel construction or collocation with existing linear corridors (for example, highway and road rights-of-way, utility corridors, or previously developed areas) was one of the criteria used in evaluating routes.
