Light Department Holding Substation Public Meetings

In preparation of a critical vote at this year's fall Town Meeting, the Belmont Municipal Light Department will hold a series of public meetings over two weeks in September regarding the Department's decision to build a new substation at the Purecoat plant on Hittinger Street.

The public meetings will enable BMLD customers in the town's  eight voting precincts to ask questions and learn more about the project before it is presented at Town Meeting.

BMLD Manager Tim Richardson will lead the meetings, which will include a brief presentation about the project and a question and answer session.

Richardson will join BMLD staff and members of the Light and Advisory Boards to answer resident's questions and concerns of the project and the decision to select the Purecoat site rather than an adjacent site at the High School.

The Board of Selectmen in its role as Light Board last month approved the BMLD's Site Selection Committee's recommendation to purchase the three acre site at 39 Hittinger St./30 Brighton St. from Purecoat North for a reported $6 million.

The meetings will be held at the Beech Street Center at 266 Beech St. from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The schedule currently will be:

• Precinct 1 and 2: To be determined
• Precinct 3 and 4: Wednesday, Sept. 15
• Precincts 5 and 6: Wednesday, Sept. 22
• Precincts 7 and 8: Thursday, Sept. 23

BMLD customers who cannot attend the meeting scheduled for their precinct may attend any of the scheduled meetings.

Any questions regarding the 115kV Substation Project can be emailed to BMLDProject@belmont-ma.gov or call BMLD at 617-993-2800.

Customers who wish to be notified of any developments regarding the 115kV Substation Project should email BMLDProject@belmont-ma.gov to be added to the distribution list.

In other Department news, BMLD crews continue work to isolate customers from transients along the 13.8 kV interconnection between NStar and BMLD.

BMLD employees have been working throughout the past several months to improve this circuit by replacing the aging cable and transferring the power to another circuit to eliminate the chance of any additional high-voltage transients that have caused sporadic outages and voltage dips in the past year.

"We realize that these momentary outages are an inconvenience and appreciate your continued patience as we work to resolve this issue," said Richardson.

Questions for the BMLD can be phoned in to 617-993-2800.