The disagreement about a proposed APS high-voltage transmission across northern Peoria has been playing out before a state panel since August.

The line would connect a substation in northern Peoria -- near the southern tip of Lake Pleasant -- with a substation in Buckeye. APS would like to erect it on the so-called Carefree Highway alignment, where there is no actual road.

preserve and desert open space. The alignment cuts through some of Peoria’s most scenic desert. Although development is planned for this area, it is primarily low-density residential development that will be limited by the area’s mountainous terrain and subject to the city’s Desert Lands Conservation and Hillside Development ordinances.

The environmental impact of creating a new power line corridor in this native desert would be significant. Since there is no existing corridor, native plants would have to be cleared or moved. New access roads to build and maintain the power lines would have to be cut (and likely paved to comply with county wide dust-control measures), and views of the Sonoran Desert foothills would be altered forever by 165-foot poles anchoring high-voltage power lines.

Rather than having the utility plow a new path across the northern part of the city, Peoria would prefer that the line follow the already carved path of State Route 74, which will become a controlled-access freeway double in size in the coming years. A large number of residents in the area, along with the developers of Vistancia and the future Saddleback Heights, stand in agreement with the city. The city currently is working with the developers of the existing Quintero and future Estates at Lakeside communities north of SR-74 to address their concerns about an SR-74 route.

Residents opposed to the Carefree Highway alignment turned out in force at the hearings of the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee. The state panel scheduled additional hearings for late October and November and is expected to issue a recommendation before the end of the year. That recommendation then will go to the Arizona Corporation Commission, which has final say on the route.