9 12 24 West Orange BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG Full size Transcript

Page 1 TOWNSHIP OF WEST ORANGE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT ------------------------------x IN THE MATTER OF: CASE NO. ZB-24-06 TRANSCRIPT PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC AND OF GAS COMPANY PROCEEDINGS 35 Mount Pleasant Avenue ------------------------------x Thursday, September 12, 2024 Zoom Remote Videoconference Commencing at 8:06 p.m. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: PHILIP D. NEUER, CHAIRMAN (until 8:48 p.m.) IRV SCHWARZBAUM, Vice/Acting Chairman JEROME EBEN BRENT DRAPER SCOTT WILLIAM MICHAEL BARBEE PETER T. RICCI MICHAEL DANNEMILLER MARK SUSSMAN A P P E A R A N C E S SAVO, SCHALK, CORSINI, WARNER. GILLISPIE, O'GRODNICK & FISHER, P.A. BY: ALEXANDER G. FISHER, ESQUIRE Attorneys for the Board CHIESA SHAHINIAN & GIANTOMASI, PC BY: JENNIFER M. PORTER, ESQUIRE Attorneys for the Applicant. PRECISION REPORTING SERVICE Certified Shorthand Reporters (908) 642-4299

Page 2 1 A L S O P R E S E N T : 2 3 KEVIN MALANGA, ESQUIRE, Pro Se 4 5 DIANA CHANDLER, Board Secretary 6 JOHN HESS, Board Consulting Engineer 7 ZAYIBETH CARBALLO, Municipal Engineer 8 ERIK DeLINE, PP, Nishuane Group, LLC 9 MEGAN BRILL, Meeting Moderator 10 GEORGE WHEATLE WILLIAMS, Town Planner 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Page 3 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 3 WITNESS PAGE SWORN 4 5 MIGUEL BRIONES 12 6 By the Public..........................13 7 8 MICHAEL BLAKE 18 9 By Ms. Porter..........................18 10 By the Board...........................50 11 By Mr. Malanga.........................77, 101 12 By the Public..........................90 13 14 JONATHAN COPA 105 15 By Ms. Porter.........................105 16 By the Board..........................111 17 By Mr. Malanga........................117 18 19 JOHN FUTEY II 121 20 By Ms. Porter........................ 122 21 22 23 24 25

Page 4 1 EXHIBITS 2 NUMBER DESCRIPTION PAGE 3 4 Exhibit A-1 Viewpoint Map 34 5 Exhibit A-2 Viewpoint Number 1 35 6 Exhibit A-3 Viewpoint Number 2 36 7 Exhibit A-4 Viewpoint Number 3 38 8 Exhibit A-5 Viewpoint Number 4 39 9 Exhibit A-6 Viewpoint Number 5 39 10 Exhibit A-7 Landscape Rendering L-01R 126 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Page 5 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: We have but one 2 application on the agenda tonight. We're talking 3 about Application ZB-24-06, Public Service Electric 4 and Gas Company, with property designated as 325 5 Mount Pleasant Avenue. This application was 6 commenced before the Board on August 15th and 7 tonight is the continuation of the application. 8 Counsel, may we have your appearance for 9 the record? 10 MS. PORTER: Yes, Mr. Chairman. Jennifer 11 Porter of CSG Law here on behalf of PSE&G. 12 CHAIRMAN NEUER: We started the last time 13 and, as my notes reflect, you presented a witness 14 named Miguel Briones. 15 MS. PORTER: Correct. 16 CHAIRMAN NEUER: And we got through one -- 17 three members of the public. I will open the floor 18 to members of the public for further questioning in 19 case some members did not get reached who wished to 20 ask questions. 21 I also want to go over one element with 22 you. I presented to you a request from our Township 23 historian -- 24 MS. PORTER: Yes. 25 CHAIRMAN NEUER: -- Mr. Fagan, concerning

Page 6 1 a plaque that is on one of the brick pillars in 2 connection with the fence. Mr. Fagan has indicated 3 that it's circa 1929 or '30 and it's an historic 4 part of the Township. 5 Has the applicant been able to make 6 arrangements to keep it as part of the property, if, 7 as, and when the application is approved? 8 MS. PORTER: So the answer to that 9 question is yes, Mr. Chairman. I did discuss the 10 plaque with the applicant and they have the 11 intention of keeping the plaque and reutilizing it 12 in connection with the site. So it will remain and 13 it will be -- continue to be shown as part of the 14 site features. 15 CHAIRMAN NEUER: I'm making a note. If 16 this application is approved, we can include a 17 condition with the consent of the applicant to 18 maintain the plaque on the property. 19 MS. PORTER: That -- that is acceptable to 20 the applicant. 21 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Good. Thank you. 22 Do you agree that we should commence 23 with further -- unless you want to make some 24 statement? 25 MS. PORTER: Actually, if I may, right,

Page 7 1 Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to do a very brief recap 2 just to kind of bring us back in terms of, again, 3 very briefly, what was discussed at the last 4 meeting. 5 And, also, I just wanted to note for the 6 record that because this special meeting was 7 scheduled after we adjourned the last hearing on 8 August 15th, the applicant did renotice. And we 9 submitted a copy of our affidavit of publication and 10 mailing in accordance with the MLUL, so we believe 11 that the Board does continue to have jurisdiction to 12 proceed in connection with this proceeding. 13 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Mr. Fisher, can you 14 verify that? 15 MR. FISHER: Yes, the Board does continue 16 to have jurisdiction. It was properly noticed. 17 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. 18 MS. PORTER: So then again -- oh, sure, go 19 ahead. 20 CHAIRMAN NEUER: You did say "very 21 briefly" twice, so please -- 22 MS. PORTER: I'll keep it brief. Sure. 23 So before we go back and open it back up 24 to the public, I just wanted to note, as 25 Mr. Chairman indicated, we did begin the last

Page 8 1 meeting in connection with PSE&G's application. I 2 just wanted to remind the Board and the public that 3 we're here seeking preliminary and final major site 4 plan approval in connection with various use and 5 bulk variances that were described in further detail 6 at the last meeting. 7 This application is specifically for 8 upgrades to remove and replace outdated equipment at 9 the existing West Orange switching station. There 10 are a number of stations in that vicinity. This 11 application concerns only the West Orange switching 12 station which, as Mr. Chairman indicated, is 325 13 Mount Pleasant Avenue. 14 Also as was noted, Mr. Briones, our first 15 witness, who is a fact witness and the project 16 manager for PSE&G, gave a brief overview in terms of 17 the nature and scope of the work that's going to 18 take place at the station in terms of the removal of 19 various existing buildings, the installation of a 20 new one-story 26 kV switchgear enclosure that will 21 house the new addition of the 26 kV switchgear, and 22 feeder reactors. 23 As was also discussed and will be 24 discussed in great detail this evening from our 25 other expert witnesses, the application includes the

Page 9 1 realignment of the access road along Mount Pleasant 2 Avenue, a new drive path, as well as the removal 3 of the existing perimeter fence. We do intend to 4 give more specific details with respect to that 5 fence removal, as well as the nature of the 6 materials in connection with the new proposed 7 Ameristar fence. 8 In addition, we will talk more 9 specifically -- our civil engineer will address 10 the small bioretention basins that are proposed 11 and our electrical engineer will hit upon the 12 lightning masts that are being proposed in addition 13 to the existing lightning masts to remain at this 14 site. 15 So all of those were specific items that 16 did come up in the context of the previous 17 testimony. There were some questions which were 18 deferred to other witnesses. All of those witnesses 19 are present this evening. And so, hopefully, we can 20 get as far as possible in terms of the nature of our 21 application and then build into that testimony 22 answers to as many of those questions that remain 23 open as possible. 24 We concluded, as Mr. Chairman indicated, 25 with the Board and public questions for Mr. Briones.

Page 10 1 I believe we finished the questioning by Mr. Malanga 2 and at that point we concluded the hearing but did 3 leave it open if there were other members of the 4 public who did have any questions for him. 5 We do intend on calling however many 6 witnesses we can get through this evening. We do 7 have four present. We have our civil engineer, 8 Michael Blake, who will testify first after we get 9 done with the public comment -- or public questions, 10 rather, for Mr. Briones. 11 After Michael Blake we intend to call our 12 electrical engineer who will specifically discuss 13 lighting at this site, the electrical aspects of the 14 nature of the proposed improvements, as well as the 15 lightening masts feature of this site design. 16 Next we will have John Futey. He is a 17 landscape architect. He will get into the very 18 specific details in terms of our tree removals as 19 well as our proposed landscaping plan. And we do 20 have a colored rendering that we can provide to 21 fully walk the Board through both the removal as 22 well as the significant amount of restoration that 23 will be occurring at the site. 24 And then, lastly, we, of course, have our 25 planner who also was responsible for preparing the