(2) The commission may deny any application for a license if it appears that the applicant has failed to comply substantially with the terms and conditions of the preliminary permit or, notwithstanding the commission has issued a preliminary permit, if in the judgment of the commission the project is unfeasible or the public interest requires the denial thereof.
(3) A municipal corporation or people’s utility district shall be given preference on any project in the issuance of a license, upon condition that the municipal corporation or people’s utility district exercising such preference right shall be required to reimburse the holder of a preliminary permit for all reasonable actual expenditures made by the holder upon the project described or referred to therein. [Amended by 1983 c.740 §214b; 1985 c.673 §150; 1995 c.229 §5]