HG&E buys part of Mt. Tom

Date: 3/24/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



HOLYOKE -- Holyoke Gas & Electric (HG&E) announced last week it had purchased 270 acres on Mount Tom that it will preserve as conservation land and provide a location for possible wind electrical generators.

HG&E General Manager James Lavelle told Reminder Publications the purchase was a "win-win" as it will preserve part of the mountain as well as continue the company's interest in renewable power generation. HG&E is Holyoke's municipally owned utility company providing electricity, natural gas, steam and fiber optic services to 18,000 users.

Lavelle said the utility company paid $1.9 million for the property, which includes the site at the top of the mountain where broadcast antennas are located. The utility bought the property from Springfield Towers LLC, which is a company owned by John Gormally, the owner of WGGB television and Business West magazine.

Lavelle said the parcel of the property on which the broadcast towers are located is subject to a long-term lease and has been sublet to a third party. HG&E will not see any revenue from the property for the immediate future.

The property extends from the towers for about a half-mile, he said, slopes along the ridge and down to the reservoir.

The transaction has been several months in the making, Lavelle said.

The utility has entered into an agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) to makes sure the land will be preserved and to explore the possible use of part of the property for a wind generation project. If HG&E does not develop its own wind project within three years, the MTC or its designee will have the right to use the property its own wind project.

The agreements with the state restrict any development on the site for wind generation or telecommunications uses.

HG&E do not yet have a development plan, but will be welcoming public input during its planning process.

"HG&E is proud to be able to protect the bulk of this parcel for private development and explore the potential for clean renewable energy on a portion of the site," Lavelle said.