SAUGUS — LEC Environmental Consultants approached the Conservation Commission Wednesday night on behalf of National Grid to install five new utility poles and remove a tree within the Hampton Street, Dudley Street, Ballard Street, and Houston Avenue rights-of-way as part of an electric utility upgrade project.

Senior Wetland Scientist Andrea Kendall represented the consultant firm and presented the project to the Commission.

“This is related to the decommissioning of a substation in Lynn… A portion of these pole replacements are located within the 100-year floodplain,” Kendall explained, continuing that the five holes are located in existing residential neighborhoods.

The tree proposed for removal is located on Hampton Street.

Kendall continued that one of the poles is positioned too close to the 30-inch silver maple, making it subject to removal.

With the way the poles would be designed, an existing pole would remain on one side of the street, and the wires would cross over to the other side via that pole. The Commission raised concerns about trucks potentially knocking down the lines.

One of the biggest concerns, explained by Town Engineer Todd Baldwin, was the large number of double poles around town. Baldwin noted that some have even become quadruple poles.

A double pole is when a utility company installs a new pole next to an old one, and the original pole is not removed because the wires and equipment have not yet been fully transferred.

Kendall stated that she did not believe there would be a double pole on this project, but the Commission still expressed concern about the possibility.

“This seems to be an ongoing issue,” Baldwin said. “It’s really in the hundreds.”

He urged the Commission to ensure that measures are in place so that, if a double pole does occur, there are requirements that they be removed within a certain time frame.

Another problem was that National Grid typically works with a tree warden for tree removal; however, the town does not have one at the moment. The company would need to seek approval from the Tree Committee.

Commissioner Bill Leuci asked whether the tree could be kept through trimming and maintenance, but Kendall said that with the amount of maintenance it would require, the tree would ultimately die.

Commissioner Bill Ferringo made a motion for a special condition that, if any of the new poles are double poles, they must be removed within the timeline of the determination.

In the end, a motion was made for a negative determination, allowing National Grid to proceed with the next steps, and the vote was a unanimous yes.