Some Mansfield city residents are unhappy with plans to place new power lines right through the middle of their neighborhood on County Road 213, and they're planning to discuss the issue at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Mansfield Community Center, 3158 Ga. Highway 11.

The Georgia Transmission Corporation plans to build a 115 kilovolt transmission power line in the southeastern part of the county, which would run north from the Mill Pond Road, Ga. 11 intersection through Mansfield.

According to a Georgia Transmission letter sent to area residents, that part of the county is expected to reach its current electricity capacity by late 2012, necessitating a new power transmission line.

Mansfield resident Carol Jones said she and her neighbors are concerned that property values will suffer and that the power line will require trees to be cut down.

"It will be difficult to sell the homes directly beside the path where the poles are placed," Jones said in an email. "None of us are ignorant to believe the power poles can be stopped completely; we just believe there has to be a route available that doesn't trample through established neighborhoods in a historic town."

They would like Georgia Transmission to choose one of the other three routes up for consideration, though the current preferred route through Mansfield is the least expensive.

Georgia Transmission has a public meeting planned from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., August 30 at Newborn United Methodist Church, but residents have already been expressing their concerns to the utility company.

Jones said that, according to the 2008 Land Use Ordinance, Mansfield is named a rural, historic community where the county should discourage the extension of public utilities. Residents have spoken to state Rep. Doug Holt (R-Social Circle), area Board of Education Member Jeff Meadors and other county officials.

Another community meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m., Monday at the Mansfield Community Center.

Georgia Transmission spokeswoman Jeannine Haynes said in a voicemail that her company has been hearing complaints from Mansfield residents and plans to meet with them during the next few weeks.

Georgia Transmission is a not-for-profit cooperative owned by 39 electric membership cooperatives in Georgia, and it plans, builds and maintains a transmission system of nearly 3,000 miles of power lines and more than 600 substations, according to its website. The company also jointly plans and operates most of Georgia's 18,500 miles of transmission lines and substations with Georgia Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, of which Mansfield is a member, and Dalton Utilities.