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Large
stacks rise Wednesday from Salt River Project’s San Tan power
plant in Gilbert. Tim Hacker Tribune |
Towering stacks are part of Gilbert landscape
| News Update |
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| By Brian Powell and Hayley Ringle Tribune |
| Each day, as Jason Reynolds makes pizza at a Nick-N-Willys restaurant in Gilbert, he glances out the window at a landmark that now helps define the neighborhood: Three towering stacks that are part of a Salt River Project power plant. |
| “It’s not always a great view,” the
19-year-old Reynolds said, noting that he can also see the stacks from his
home. He hopes that someday, more development around his neighborhood will help further obscure the sight of the power plant, which has undergone a major expansion to help meet the demand for electricity in the East Valley. The plant has become a major part of Gilbert’s landscape. A person can’t drive anywhere near Val Vista Drive and Warner Road without noticing the huge stacks on the southeast corner. Many of those who work and live in Gilbert are resigned to having the plant hover overhead. Bob Barrett, store manager of Sun Devil Auto directly west of the power plant, said it hasn’t been a problem. “If it’s going to create noise, they send a letter out,” said Barrett, who lives in Apache Junction. “They seem like good neighbors.” He also said the plant is a good landmark for customers looking for his auto service center. While acknowledging that the plant is unsightly in an area otherwise dominated by newer homes and shopping centers, Mayor Steve Berman says complaints have died down. The town has little choice but to accept the facility as part of the community, he said. SRP’s San Tan power plant is set to have two of its three new units begin operation next June 1, while the third unit will start at a still-unknown later date, SRP spokesman Scott Harelson said. The expansion will provide electricity for up to 200,000 more homes when it begins operating next year. If already running, the $500 million expansion project could have played a pivotal role in offsetting two Arizona Public Service Co. substation fires in the West Valley, Harelson said. “Not only would we have the energy we need, we would have some margin,” he said. The fires forced the Gilbert plant to run continuously to meet customer demand. Harelson said the current plant would typically have operated only during peak hours. “Until we get the other transformer installed and working, the current San Tan facility will continue to run,” Harelson said. Surrounded by homes and businesses, expansion of the natural gas plant was approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2001. The commission approved the 825,000-megawatt expansion despite strong protests from residents in surrounding neighborhoods. SRP worked with them to ensure some landscaped buffering from the street. Construction began in spring 2003, but first became noticeable to nearby residents, motorists and businesses in August 2003 when two 75-foot heat recovery steam generators rose above the berm surrounding the plant. Three 150-foot-tall stacks — the plant’s highest point — were added late last year. Not all residents are willing to accept their towering neighbor. Denyce Bultez says she smells a rubbery, chemical odor wafting from the stacks across from the Warner Vista Animal Hospital where she works. “I think it doesn’t make sense to put it in this area,” the Mesa resident said. |
| Contact Brian Powell by email,
or phone (480) 898-6514. Contact Hayley Ringle by email.
|
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