By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The Overton Power District (OPD5) Board of Directors has approved an agreement with the City of Mesquite for a new switchyard site to be placed on a parcel of city land.
In a meeting held on Wednesday, Sept. 21, the board agreed to exchange $60,000 in credits which can be used to pay future impact fees, for a 5.67 acre parcel near the Mesquite Sports and Events Complex.
OPD5 Engineer Services Manager Randall Ozaki explained to the board that the proposal was to install a switchyard in that area connecting into the main transmission lines feeding into Mesquite at that location. This would allow power to be fed down the road south from there to the new Raptor substation being built near the Eagle’s Landing truck stop area. The new substation is being located there to accommodate the huge Crown Holdings manufacturing facility being constructed near that location, Ozaki added.
“This helps give us protection to our 138kv (transmission) lines, our main feed into Mesquite,” Ozaki said. “And it also gives us, in the future, redundance to one of our future largest clients.”
Ozaki emphasized that the 5 acre parcel in question is not really usable for other purposes because of its cramped and awkward location.
“The city realizes that,” Ozaki said. “That is why they are willing to at least get something from us for it.”
Ozaki explained to board members how the $60,000 commitment to the city would be fulfilled. “The city has projects that they do where we charge them the same impact fees as we charge our new customers for connecting into the system,” Ozaki said. “So we would just negate those and apply those credits instead.”
Mesquite board member Mike Young asked why the district should be required to run a credit with the city for that amount when the parcel isn’t really worth anything to the city.
“Ten thousand dollars an acre for land that is really essentially useless seems a lot,” Young said.
“Well, it is worth a lot to us to provide support to the new substation,” Ozaki responded. “We want it. They have it. It benefits us all.”
Even so, the price of this parcel ended up being much less per acre than the city land deeded to OPD5 for the Raptor substation. Ozaki added that the City had been willing to negotiate significantly downward on the price of the switchyard property.
Young made the motion to accept the agreement with the city for a $60,000 credit in return for the land for the proposed switchyard. The board adopted the motion with a unanimous vote.
