Hundreds of property owners affected by new GA Power transmission line

More than 330 parcels will be affected by a new 500 kV transmission line Georgia Power is building through Coweta, Fayette, Fulton and Heard counties.

Some will be affected by easements, and 21 homes will be sacrificed to the project, according to Holly Lovett, spokeswoman for Georgia Power.

“We appreciate the investments residents make in their homes and businesses,” Lovett said.

“Georgia Power considers feedback from residents and utilizes estimates from independent appraisers as part of our process. We always work amicably with property owners to find a mutually agreeable solution, which includes negotiations and fair compensation for any required easements.”

As a public utility, they can also resort to eminent domain.

The 500 kV lines require an average easement of 175 feet, she said.

“Think of transmission lines as the highways of electricity,” Lovett said by email. “Smaller distribution lines connect to buildings like local streets.”

The company has worked for months creating the plan for the transmission line, she said.

Representatives have worked with community members directly and last year held several well-attended community information session with affected property owners and others in the community, she said.

The line will leave Plant Wansley in Heard, cross into Coweta heading to Plant Yates and then cut across northern Coweta to Fulton and then into Fayette.

The nearly 36-mile line will tie into Georgia Power’s network and move generation to the areas where growth is taking place. That includes residential, commercial and industrial growth. In the end the new transmission line will make the network more reliable, said representatives of Georgia Power.

“We have seen unprecedented growth,” said Holly Lovett, spokeswoman for Georgia Power.

Much of that growth is in south Metro Atlanta, Lovett said. This line will help power that growth and future growth in the area, she said.

Georgia Power held public meetings in the affected counties including two at the Coweta County Fairgrounds on Thursday to give local residents a chance to talk to experts about the environmental and personal impacts they will see from the new transmission line.

The company sent invitations to about 1,000 households, including parcels that will be impacted by the construction and people within a certain radius of the line, Lovett said.

Dozens of area residents showed up to the first of the two scheduled meetings. Before the first 90 minute meeting started about 40 people crowded into the foyer and hallway leading to the meeting room.

Jeff Estep said he received a letter from Georgia Power stating that the company would be building the transmission line in the vicinity of his neighborhood. He wanted to find out where the line would be going, Estep said.

“I live in the middle of about 3,500 acres of what was timber company,” Estep said. “We just got through fighting a solar farm they were planning to put in that area and now the Sail Project and this power line.”

He’s concerned about what this new project might do to his property value, Estep said.

“I doubt what I say will have anything to do with what Georgia Power needs to do,” Estep said. “Right now, I’m just concerned with where it’s going. I need more information before I get up and start fussing.”

Craig Payne was also wanting more information about where the transmission lines were going, he said.

“I just wanted to see how close it was coming to me,” Payne said.

He was happy to find they were “far enough that it won’t bother me,” Payne said.

Lovett said the input collected on Thursday could influence the company’s tree plantings, foundation donations and various things like that.

Most importantly, it gave area residents to have one-on-one conversations with the experts who could answer their questions, she said.

The company is currently doing survey work. Clearing and grading is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2027. Construction will begin in the third quarter of 2027 and it should be completed by 2028, she said.