Judge upholds Tucson's authority to restrict controversial overhead power lines

A judge has upheld the City of Tucson’s authority to prohibit overhead transmission lines in city-designated corridors, perhaps dealing a blow to Tucson Electric Power Co.’s plan for a major new line through midtown Tucson.

Pima Superior Court Judge Kyle Bryson in a ruling late Monday denied an appeal challenging a Tucson zoning administrator’s rejection of part of the utility’s initial plan to build overhead high-voltage transmission lines through midtown.

TEP had initially sought zoning permission in 2021 to install the overhead 138-kilovolt lines along parts of Kino Parkway, contending the project was a system upgrade not subject to the overhead line prohibition.

The utility’s current preferred route for the line — now known as the Midtown Reliability Project and the subject of hearings that started Monday before a state line-siting committee — no longer runs along Kino or its continuation north of Broadway as North Campbell Avenue.

After the city Board of Adjustment upheld the zoning administrator’s determination last year, TEP appealed in court, pressing its contention that the project was an upgrade.

The utility also argued that the city ordinances were pre-empted by state law governing utilities and because the city had allowed overhead transmission lines in a Gateway Corridor in one case.

But Bryson rejected those arguments, affirming the zoning decision and granting the city summary judgement on the other issues.

The judge said the Arizona Corporation Commission properly has primary jurisdiction over where high-capacity transmission lines are built, but not how they are constructed.

State law does not prevent cities from regulating how a utility expands or modifies its system “so long as such regulations do not have the effect of restricting access,” Bryson said.

“The court has been unable to locate any law which restricts the City’s authority to regulate how transmission lines are constructed,” Bryson wrote. “TEP is correct that there is no law which explicitly grants the City the authority to require undergrounding, but neither is there a specific law which purports to exempt utilities from all zoning regulations.”

“Therefore, the Court finds that, as a matter of law, the City has the authority to require undergrounding of transmission lines,” the judge wrote.

The ruling was a victory for opponents of the overhead lines, which as currently proposed by TEP would run through or near several historic Tucson neighborhoods.

But the practical effect of the ruling is unclear, since TEP’s current preferred route for the transmission line avoids South Kino Parkway.

TEP spokesman Joe Barrios said the company was disappointed with the ruling.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“TEP is committed to addressing the critical need for greater energy capacity and replacement of aging, lower-voltage equipment in central Tucson,” Barrios said. “We’ll continue our efforts this week before the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee, which will consider multiple alternative transmission line routes.”

During the second day of hearings on TEP’s latest line route proposal Tuesday morning before the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee, assistant city attorney Roi Lusk said the ruling would be entered into evidence in the case but had no other immediate comment.

In its appeal, TEP had cited the city’s approval of overhead high-voltage transmission lines for part of TEP’s Irvington-East Loop transmission line in 2020, arguing the city must apply the same policy.

The Irvington-East Loop line runs from a substation near Interstate 10 on the southwest side of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, east around the base and north to a substation near North Kolb Road and East Speedway.

But Bryson found that the line ran on a Gateway segment less than a mile long, on South Kolb Road between East Littletown and Valencia Roads.

Hearings continue

Meanwhile, TEP continued to present its case Tuesday after an initial hearing and evening public-comment session on Monday.

TEP Project Manager Clark Bryner testified that the company’s preferred route in its pending application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility avoids running along city-designated Gateway routes, including Campbell and Kino.

But it will cross East Broadway, another Gateway route, and South Kino Parkway right at the southern substation at 36th Street.

TEP will need to apply to the city for “special exceptions” to the ordinances for those crossings, under a process approved for transmission projects last year, Bryner said.

TEP’s preferred route for the transmission line, identified as “B4,” connects the DeMoss-Petrie Substation near Interstate 10 and East Grant Road to the proposed Vine Substation near Banner — University Medical Center via Grant, North Park Avenue, East Adams Street and North Vine Avenue.

The route connects the Vine Substation to the Kino Substation at South Kino Parkway and East 36th Street using Vine, Adams and Park before turning west on East Speedway and then south on South Euclid Avenue. After crossing Barraza Aviation Highway, the route continues on South Toole Avenue, Euclid and 36th Street.

For links to the live hearings and other information, go to tucne.ws/tepline.