Joint Board of Supervisors & School Board Committee

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Loudoun County Board of Supervisors 1h 38m 2 speakers transcribed 4 days ago official recording ↗

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1:09

Thank you.

Sylvia R. Glass 3:41

I would like to call to order the June 2nd, 2025 Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing aids to telecoil mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well. Please see the clerk to my left at the end of the day as to request one. Today.

Sylvia R. Glass 4:16

We'll have where Chair Randall needs to be seated.

Sylvia R. Glass 4:28

Today we have six advanced signup speakers for a public input portion of the meeting. Speakers will be called in the order in which they register to speak. If you are in the boardroom or lobby, please come to the podium closest to you and state your name for the record. The timer on the podium will indicate your remaining time. When your time has expired, please yield to the floor to the next speaker. Pursuant to section... It was at 14.m.3 of the board rules of order. At the joint committee, all speakers unless otherwise noted will have a minimum of two and a half minutes with no more than three minutes except as otherwise noted to address the committee whether speaking as an individual as a representative to any group or organization.

Sylvia R. Glass 5:21

When you are speaking, please address the committee, not the audience. Those addressing the committee are asked to maintain the quorum while speaking and while listening to other public comments. If you are speaking remotely, I will call on the moderator. Andy, are you there? I am here. Thank you. First, to ensure you are ready to speak, please note that there is a slight delay between the broadcast and the boardroom. And please excuse me, I had field day today, so I'm at school, so I'm trying to get focused and ready to read. So we'll have our first speaker, and that is Sushil Bombardakar. Okay, that person is not here. I'm

Unknown 6:15

here.

Sylvia R. Glass 6:15

Oh, okay, on telecoil. Go ahead.

Unknown 6:20

Okay, starting now. Good afternoon, everyone. Dominion Energy has proposed six possible routes for the 500 kV Golden to Marsh transmission line. Involve overhead lines cutting through my community. We have been discussing this for nearly a year, and while we would prefer not to have these lines at all, we recognize Dominion must meet the growing demand. That is why I applaud Loudoun County's continued push for hybrid undergrounding. If feasible, clearly that's the best path forward. We know that there are many challenges to this, like the Broad Run floodplain, the Columbia gas pipeline, but the county's persistence is what matters. Still, as the SEC begins reviewing these routes, we must prepare for the possibility that undergrounding is not deemed feasible.

Unknown 7:15

In that case, we will need to choose an overhead route and remember not all routes are created equal. Route 5 Orange, which follows Loudoun County Parkway, would be the most harmful. It impacts over 1,200 houses, 15 HOAs, Stonehill Middle School, Primrose Daycare, and Innova Loudoun Emergency Center. Some of these are within just 25 feet from the line. The critical issue is this. If all the overhead routes are rejected, Dominion will default to Route 5 Orange since that lies within its existing right of way. That means the county, the school board, as well as the residents will have no legal grounds to challenge it. A growing community effort is already pushing back on this. Over 1,200 residents have signed a Change.org petition opposing all Loudoun County Parkway routes.

Unknown 8:15

As you continue championing underground solutions and take part in the SPC hearings, I urge you to also consider the consequences of each overhead alternative. If undergrounding is not viable, support the route with the least impact to the Loudoun families and prevent any route going on Loudoun County Parkway, especially Route 5 Orange, which has the maximum impact. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak today.

Sylvia R. Glass 8:45

Thank you. Next is Bhavna Chandak. And then after that is Ritu Chowdhury.

Unknown 8:57

Hello. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Tafna Chandok and I'm here today to urge Dominion to reconsider the current transmission line options and choose a route that minimizes harm to our community.