Pepco Talks Trees Face-to-Face With Greenbelt Citizens

Pepco met with Greenbelt Wednesday night to outline its reliability enhancement project, which includes removing 547 trees and replacing 536 utility poles in the hope of reducing power outages. 

Now Pepco is waiting for the final green light from the city, said Project Manager Gary Keeler.

Trees slated for removal are marked with orange and red paint, according to Pepco arborist Nathan McElroy. When Greenbelt resident Andy Carruthers asked whether the trees up for trimming were marked as well, McElroy answered "no," but said they were designated on Pepco's maps.

Spread out on tables in the front of the meeting room were maps revealing the trees slated for removal or trimming. Pepco may make digital copies available in the future, according to Pepco spokesman Bob Hainey. But the ones on display at the meeting were what was available in the short-term.

Patch snapped , neighborhood by neighborhood, which will be posted Thursday.

Pepco plans to begin tree cutting and pruning in September and follow with the line work sometime in October, according to Keeler. He said he expects work to continue through early summer 2013.

In addition to its tree and pole work, Pepco plans to replace more than 18,000 feet of primary wire and 40,000 feet of secondary wiring, plus perform service wire drops to more than 1,000 buildings.

While carrying out its work, Pepco will consider traffic flow, according to Keeler. He pointed to Crescent Rd. as an example, explaining Pepco will stay off it during rush hour or away from the inbound traffic during the evening.

When outages are planned, Keeler said Pepco will give three-day notice with door hangers, and the outages will typically last four hours in the morning or afternoon. But he warned there may be unplanned outages when Pepco is working on live lines. 

Greenbelt resident Justin Baker queried Pepco about trees he'd seen split into a V shape around power lines and wanted to know if its pruners would be doing functional work or would take aesthetics into consideration.

"We're not pruning for aesthetics, we're pruning to keep the lights on," McElroy said. "They're not going to be a natural look."

McElroy did say, though, that Pepco's decision to cut down trees on wooded edges would look more natural than leaving them with a significant amount of their crowns cut out. He also pointed to ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards, which he said recommended cutting trees if more than 25 percent of the crown had to be removed.

While cutting down trees, Pepco is also paving the way for new trees by paying the city $6,500 and GHI $3,500 for tree replacements, according to McElroy.

The city has offered citizens an outlet for contacting it with questions and comments by emailing pepcoproject@greenbeltmd.gov