The House took baby steps towards addressing double utility poles that have frustrated municipal leaders for years.
On Wednesday, representatives embedded language within an amendment to a sweeping economic development bill (H 5562) that creates a permanent working group to serve as an informational resource, eyes improvements to a utility pole database and seeks solutions to resolve communication problems among parties involved with the poles.
The issues arise when a utility pole needs to be replaced; utility companies often install a new pole next to an old one. Then, the utility company transfers everything from the old pole to the new one. State law requires old poles to be removed within 90 days, but they often stay put.
Double-poles also tend to lean, leading to low-hanging wires that can be easily knocked down by trucks.
Municipal leaders say the double poles create unnecessary obstacles for drivers and pedestrians, and lead to situations where high voltage wires could be attached to poles that are not set in the ground. Utilities have said efforts to remove the pole don’t consider the amount of coordination needed when different companies have equipment on the same pole.
The policy representatives passed also gets rid of the 90-day deadline and is a revised version of an idea Gov. Maura Healey included in her so-called Municipal Empowerment Act (H 56). That would double the time utilities have to remove poles to 180 days but also grant municipalities authority to enforce the deadline with $1,000 penalties. The new working group would be tasked, under the House language, with developing an “incentive and accountability structure” within six months.
On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Municipal Association — which would have a spot in the working group — sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to pass Healey’s municipal empowerment legislation. The Legislature divided that bill into multiple pieces, some of which have been scuttled.
MMA Legislative Director Dave Koffman said the proposal the House added to the economic development bill marks a “good step forward.”
“It’s great progress. I think we also continue to know that we’re looking for progress in any means necessary,” he said.
Koffman said there’s a “fair conversation” to be had on what the right timeline for double pole removal should look like, and that all ideas that are “actually going to compel action” including different fines, should be considered.
