On Tuesday the Turlock Irrigation District Board of Directors took a step forward in constructing a new electrical substation to be built off Washington Road.

The new Washington substation will allow for continued growth in industrial consumers in southwestern Turlock and effectively take some of the pressure to transmit electricity efficiently off the current substations already in the area.

With plans to tie into the existing 115 kV transmission lines from the neighboring substation, there are no plans for additional transmission roadways to be built with this project. Estimated completion date for the substation is in December of 2017 with the total project budget being $6.8 million, according to TID.

The Board unanimously approved the declaration to begin circulation to local area residents, outlining the coming plans and impact of the substation project on both the environment and the surrounding area.

Public notice for this project will come in the form of a brochure otherwise known as a notice of intent to adopt a mitigated negative declaration.

This notice will be posted at the Stanislaus County Clerk’s Office in Modesto, and mailed to responsible and trustee agencies and adjacent property owners. Electronic copies will be available on TID’s website and a hard copy will also be available at the TID Business Office as well as the Modesto and Turlock Library.

“We are including the project owner, a description of the project and location, it will offer a 20 day public comment period, notification of where the hard copies are located and the date that we are considering adopting it, which is July 26 at this point of this year,” said Janis Dylan-Scott, senior electrical engineer. “All public comments will need to be considered prior to adoption.”