The Darien holiday tree lighting ceremony will take place as originally scheduled at 4 p.m. Dec. 6 following the Darien City Council’s decision Monday, Nov. 2, to spend $40,000 to bury electrical power lines near the site of the ceremony.
The ceremony had been in jeopardy after city officials became aware that Commonwealth Edison planned to install poles for above-ground power lines at the site on the northwest corner of 75th Street and Cass Avenue.
The location of the poles would have been within a few feet of the tree traditionally used for the ceremony, and city officials said they would change the ceremony venue if ComEd installed the above-ground poles.
ComEd recently submitted a proposal to the city to bury the lines for about $80,000, but also authorized the city to use its own contractor for the work, said Bryon Vana, city administrator.
The council voted to contract with Gaffney’s PMI, the village’s electrical contractor, to do the work for no more than $40,000, Vana said.
“The work is expected to start, perhaps, within a week, so the ceremony is back on as it was originally scheduled,” Vana said.
