9 19 24 West Orange BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG Condensed

ny 21 chain-link fence that's 8-feet tall at the site. 22 THE WITNESS: I do not know exactly, but I 23 can tell you that our Resolutions do allow for 8-foot 24 high fencing. And the Resolutions are in the 25 application package.

cbd6abed-8cda-4dba-9ebd-560688bcfcb2 29 (Pages 113 to 116) Page 113 1 MR. MALANGA: You mean the Resolutions of 2 approval for this site? 3 THE WITNESS: Yes. 4 MR. MALANGA: All right. Does this 5 chain-link fence encircle the existing equipment at the 6 site? 7 THE WITNESS: To my knowledge it encircles 8 the 230kV yard. 9 MR. MALANGA: Would it not be possible to 10 use a similar approach and use a chain-link fence on 11 the interior of this site to encircle the proposed 12 equipment? 13 CHAIRMAN NEUER: I don't understand the 14 question. 15 MR. MALANGA: I'll try to rephrase that, 16 Mr. Chairman. Would it not be possible to encircle the 17 proposed equipment by a chain-link fence so the 18 fence -- the new chain-link fence would be on the 19 interior of the site, not on the perimeter of the site, 20 and maintain a lower fence on the perimeter? 21 THE WITNESS: I apologize that I cannot 22 answer as I am not a security expert. 23 MR. PORTER: And objection. That would 24 call for a specific design and engineering information, 25 to which this witness does not have personal knowledge Page 115 1 would measurable alter the character of the 2 neighborhood. 3 MR. MALANGA: So cutting down trees and 4 other vegetation along the perimeter of the site, and 5 having it take ten years for it to regrow will not 6 alter the character of the site, is that what you -- 7 MS. PORTER: I object. 8 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Mr. Malanga, asked and 9 answered. Let's go on to something else, please. 10 MR. MALANGA: I have no other questions. 11 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you Ms. Merainer. 12 CHAIRMAN NEUER: You have 10 seconds left. 13 MR. MALANGA: I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. I'm 14 going to have to yield that to someone else. 15 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. Good clock 16 management, Kevin. 17 Mr. Fagan, any other hands going up? 18 MR. FAGAN: Yes, Mr. Chairperson. Micaela 19 Bennett welcome back to the meeting. Please state your 20 name and address for the record. 21 MS. BENNETT: Thank you, Mr. Fagan. My 22 name is Micaela Bennett and I live at 35 Old Indian 23 Road. 24 I just -- is it possible to share your 25 exhibits again? Is it possible to share the Page 114 1 or expertise. 2 MR. MALANGA: You indicate that the 3 proposed use and the construction necessary for the 4 proposed use would not alter the character of the 5 neighborhood; is that right? 6 THE WITNESS: It will not alter the 7 character

icate that the 3 proposed use and the construction necessary for the 4 proposed use would not alter the character of the 5 neighborhood; is that right? 6 THE WITNESS: It will not alter the 7 character of the neighborhood in terms of the 8 longstanding public utility use. We are endeavoring to 9 provide you with a fence that is a modern equivalent of 10 the existing fence and we are providing trees in 11 accordance with a landscape ordinance. 12 MR. MALANGA: Did you hear the testimony of 13 Mr. Futey? 14 THE WITNESS: I did. 15 MR. MALANGA: Did you hear him say it would 16 take at least 10 years before the plantings develop any 17 semblance of maturity? 18 THE WITNESS: I did. 19 MR. MALANGA: You did? 20 THE WITNESS: I did. 21 MR. MALANGA: So for a period of 10 years 22 will it alter the character of the site? 23 THE WITNESS: I believe the compelling 24 reason is electric reliability and we are doing our 25 best to mitigate this. So I do not believe that it Page 116 1 photographs? 2 THE WITNESS: I will endeavor to do so. 3 I'm just going to pull down my screen a little bit so I 4 can press the share button. 5 MR. FAGAN: Mr. Chairperson, would it be 6 possible for you to keep the clock being I do not have 7 it on screen? 8 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Yes, I have one going. 9 Thank you, Mr. Fagan. 10 MS. BENNETT: Thank you. 11 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. Ms. Bennett, 12 there's the first picture. 13 MS. BENNETT: Yes, the first. Would you 14 mind just slowly sharing each of them? 15 THE WITNESS: Yes. I'll go back to the 16 beginning. 17 MS. BENNETT: Thank you. 18 THE WITNESS: Okay. This one I had meant 19 to show. This is perhaps a -- this might be A-13. I 20 had meant to show this first. This is our East 21 Rutherford substation. Is there a specific thing 22 you're looking for? 23 MS. BENNETT: Actually, if you leave that 24 one that's actually perfect. I don't know that that 25 was shared previously so I'm not sure if it's a part of

cbd6abed-8cda-4dba-9ebd-560688bcfcb2 30 (Pages 117 to 120) Page 117 1 the exhibits. So -- 2 THE WITNESS: I apologize. I had meant to 3 do that and inadvertently skipped this one. 4 MR. PORTER: Mr. Warner, we would request 5 that this be marked as Exhibit A-13. And Ms. Merainer, 6 was this photograph also taken by you? 7 THE WITNESS: Yes. 8 (Exhibit A-13 is received and marked.) 9 MR. PORTER: And which specific substation 10 does this represent? 11 THE WITNESS: East Rutherford. I included 12 this so you can see the pillars at the entranceway. 13 This also has trees lining the substation. 14 MS. BENNETT: Right. And that's why I 15 asked if you would just keep this one up. Because I 16 think this depicts what Mr. Malanga was referencing. 17 The positioning of fencing so as to preserve trees by 18 positioning the fencing inside of trees. 19 So I had originally asked for you to return 20 to the exhibits because I didn't recollect if any of 21 the exhibits had shown any landscaping or any trees, 22 and I was hoping that I was wrong. 23 So my question to you is this. With your 24 knowledge of each of these substations, do any of the 25 pictures that you've shared depict how you envision the Page 119 1 preserve trees? 2 THE WITNESS: I do not know if that is 3 possible. We cannot move the fence towards the 4 roadways because that is not our property. 5 MS. BENNETT: Understood. And I wouldn't 6 want you to move it closer to the roadway. I'm 7 wondering if you could move it deeper into your 8 property to preserve trees? 9 THE WITNESS: That would have to be 10 evaluated by PSE&G if we can even do that. Our concern 11 would be that there are sections of the property that 12 we could not protect. 13 MS. BENNETT: The park-like sections, 14 right, not the equipment sections? 15 THE WITNESS: That is still part of our 16 property. 17 MR. PORTER: Mr. Neuer, I object. This is 18 again calling for questions with respect to the design 19 of the site, which are engineering-specific questions. 20 She is testifying as the Planner. 21 MS. BENNETT: But the planner wouldn't -- 22 she just said you she doesn't know -- 23 CHAIRMAN NEUER: One second, Ms. Bennett. 24 MS. BENNETT: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I 25 could respond. Page 118 1 landscaping of this site? The proposed, you know, the 2 application, the site of the application, or are they 3 all more urban? 4 THE WITNESS: These are

sorry. I thought I 25 could respond. Page 118 1 landscaping of this site? The proposed, you know, the 2 application, the site of the application, or are they 3 all more urban? 4 THE WITNESS: These are generally more 5 urban or suburban. I had already explained that West 6 Orange switching station is rather unique due to its 7 size and existing -- 8 MS. BENNETT: I agree with you that it's 9 rather unique. It's also quite park-like. And you've 10 been there, yes? 11 MR. PORTER: Objection. 12 THE WITNESS: I have, inside and out. 13 MS. BENNETT: Yes. So I pass it every day, 14 multiple times a day and it's beautiful. And so is 15 there any way -- I know I need to ask a question, Mr. 16 Neuer. I'm sorry. But is there any way that this 17 application could consider the placement of the fence 18 so as to preserve the perimeter trees that are not 19 in -- not jeopardizing the substation but jeopardizing 20 your new fence? 21 Is there a way to put your security 22 fencing, which I completely understand why you need it 23 and you need it at industry standards, but is there a 24 way to position your fencing so as to be closer to the 25 equipment and further away from the trees so you can Page 120 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: That's okay. Let me 2 respectfully point out to you that your premise may be 3 flawed in that you believe that simply moving the fence 4 into the property is going to save trees and that would 5 require a great deal of study by the engineers as well 6 as the landscape architect, and all of that is beyond 7 the scope of this witness' testimony. So respectfully 8 please go on to something else and you're running a bit 9 out of time. 10 MS. BENNETT: I'm sorry. Okay. So I'm 11 sorry for taking so much time with this, but would you 12 go to the other images? Are there any trees in any of 13 the other images, and if so would you just share those 14 images? 15 THE WITNESS: Yes, I will. This is our 16 Fairmount substation. This was constructed just a few 17 years ago. We tried something different in this case. 18 What we did is we pulled our fence back into the 19 station so we could have a wide swath of landscaping. 20 We thought that -- this was an experiment. 21 Now, of course, this is not quite what you 22 have at West Orange. The landscape buffer is not as 23 wide. It is unfortunate that we have found that 24 neighbors have not necessarily respected the

21 Now, of course, this is not quite what you 22 have at West Orange. The landscape buffer is not as 23 wide. It is unfortunate that we have found that 24 neighbors have not necessarily respected the landscape 25 buffer and seem to think it is a trash receptacle.

cbd6abed-8cda-4dba-9ebd-560688bcfcb2 31 (Pages 121 to 124) Page 121 1 When we have fencing that is protecting the 2 landscaping we can ensure that it is not damaged by the 3 public. You can see that we have a number of trees. 4 These are red bud trees, and we tried to choose 5 sustainable landscaping for the rest of it. 6 Unfortunately, our idea of pulling the fence back did 7 not work out as we expected in this station. I 8 acknowledge this is a city and it is not West Orange. 9 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Ms. Bennett, I'll give you 10 one more question. 11 MS. BENNETT: Okay. Well, I hope that I 12 can just ask this as one question. Hopefully it won't 13 be run-on. 14 So is this the only other -- is this the 15 only other image that depicts a tree? And is it -- my 16 recollection was that there are deciduous trees that 17 are being removed, and there are evergreen trees that 18 are replacing. And I think that you opined that it 19 would not change the -- 20 THE WITNESS: The essential character. 21 MS. BENNETT: Correct. 22 THE WITNESS: My purpose in showing these 23 photos was so that you could see the fence and the 24 pillars. I had chosen them because of the fence and 25 the pillars so you could see the height of the pillars. Page 123 1 hand raised. Any member of the public wishing to 2 question the witness please raise your hand at this 3 time. There are no hands raised, Mr. Chairperson. 4 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Thank so you much. Ms. 5 Bennett, do you have one more question since no one is 6 behind you? I'll give you one more. 7 MR. FAGAN: I'll put her back on. 8 CHAIRMAN NEUER: She was just on. I guess 9 she's gone. Okay. Ms. Porter, any redirect? 10 MR. FAGAN: Oh, Micaela Bennett is back. 11 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. Ms. Bennett, I'll 12 give you one more question if you have one quick. 13 MS. BENNETT: I never left. I understand 14 from this witness that she hadn't considered 15 repositioning of the fence. And I just -- is there -- 16 understanding that the public's concern are the trees, 17 is there a way to return to the plan with an attempt to 18 preserve trees? 19 No member of the public is arguing about 20 safety; nor the need for electricity, reliable 21 electricity. 22 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Ms. Bennett, you asked the 23 question and now, again, one more time, Ms. Merainer. 24 Is there any ability to go back in a practical manner 25 to design the whole project? Page 122 1

CHAIRMAN NEUER: Ms. Bennett, you asked the 23 question and now, again, one more time, Ms. Merainer. 24 Is there any ability to go back in a practical manner 25 to design the whole project? Page 122 1 MS. BENNETT: And is this also with the 2 landscaping. You know, as we can imagine landscaping 3 will be proposed, and I'm just wondering if this is 4 also -- you know. Again, just my question is more 5 about your supposition that deciduous -- old he 6 deciduous trees being replaced by evergreen trees it's 7 your opinion that that will not negatively impact the 8 neighborhood or our experience of that area; is that 9 correct? 10 THE WITNESS: Yes, it is. In fact, I also 11 did a lot of research. 12 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Ms. Merainer, you've 13 answered the question. And I'm sorry, Ms. Bennett, 14 you're out of time. 15 MS. BENNETT: That's fine. Thank you very 16 much. 17 CHAIRMAN NEUER: I appreciate your 18 understanding. Mr. Fagan, any other hands? Ms. 19 Merainer, take your screen down, please. 20 MR. FAGAN: Noreen, can you take your 21 screen share down, please? 22 THE WITNESS: Of course. Please forgive 23 me. 24 MR. FAGAN: Mr. Chairperson, there are no 25 other members of the public at this time with their Page 124 1 THE WITNESS: I don't believe there is. 2 Part of the concern we have is there is a significant 3 slope on the Mount Prospect side. By pulling the fence 4 in it actually may cause more trees to be removed. 5 Where on the slope do we put that fence? 6 MS. BENNETT: Do you know that or is 7 that -- 8 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Ms. Bennett, I gave you an 9 accommodation. 10 MR. PORTER: This calls for speculation. 11 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Ms. Porter, do you have 12 any -- 13 MS. BENNETT: Thank you. 14 CHAIRMAN NEUER: You're welcome. Ms. 15 Porter, do you have any redirect? 16 BY MR. PORTER: 17 Q. Ms. Merainer, I just have one specific 18 question. You mentioned in terms of -- that in your 19 professional planning opinion that this furthers 20 multiple purposes of the Municipal Land Use Law, as 21 well as specific purposes of the Township of West 22 Orange. 23 So my question is with respect to this 24 particular use and the creation of reliable electric 25 service, in your professional planning opinion do you

cbd6abed-8cda-4dba-9ebd-560688bcfcb2 32 (Pages 125 to 128) Page 125 1 feel that the proposed design and specific layout is 2 necessary in order to provide safe and reliable 3 electric service? 4 THE WITNESS: I do. 5 MR. PORTER: One further question. In 6 connection with your specific discussions and 7 conservations with the project team, was careful 8 thought and coordination done in connection with the 9 siting, specifically as shown on the site plans that 10 are before this Board? 11 THE WITNESS: Yes. I've been involved in 12 this project for four years. 13 MR. PORTER: Thank you. I have no further 14 questions. 15 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Anything else, Ms. Porter? 16 MR. PORTER: Not at this time. 17 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. Thank you, Ms. 18 Merainer. Ms. Porter, the clock on the wall says it's 19 getting to that time. We're not going to have time for 20 any furthers witnesses. 21 How many more witnesses do you anticipate 22 calling before your case is completed? 23 MR. PORTER: So at this time we do not have 24 any further witnesses. We do have other individuals 25 available to the extent that the Board would like to Page 127 1 November? 2 MR. PORTER: I would like a moment just to 3 confer with our project team. It's my understanding 4 based on what Ms. Chandler just said there's no 5 availability even for the possibility of a special 6 meeting in October? 7 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Well, we didn't get that 8 far yet. And I've only got four members here, counting 9 me. And I can't poll the Board to see whether we would 10 be able to gather a quorum, and you would want a full 11 Board. 12 MR. PORTER: That's correct. And so what I 13 would ask the Board for consideration is I believe we 14 would recommend that we adjourn to the November 15 meeting, and then to the extent possible should the 16 Board caucus separately and determine that a Special 17 Meeting could be held in the interim that the Applicant 18 would be willing to re-notice in order to have that 19 shorter timeframe available for further testimony. 20 CHAIRMAN NEUER: That's exactly what you 21 would have to do if we're going to do it. 22 MR. PORTER: Exactly. 23 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Do you need to confer for 24 November, or do you want to take an adjournment now to 25 November? Page 126 1 hear testimony but we have no planned direct testimony 2 from any further witnesses. We have an acoustical 3 consultant, we have other

do you want to take an adjournment now to 25 November? Page 126 1 hear testimony but we have no planned direct testimony 2 from any further witnesses. We have an acoustical 3 consultant, we have other representatives of PSE&G, but 4 we do not have any specific further direct testimony 5 planned. 6 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. Well, it's very 7 tough for us to conjure questions without knowing who's 8 available. So that what I would ask you to do between 9 now and your next hearing is to write to Ms. Chandler a 10 list of the types of disciplines, and if you want the 11 name of the person, who you would make available for 12 questioning by the Board and the public in connection 13 with your application, or you're entitled to rest. 14 We do know that at least Mr. Malanga 15 intends to put on a case with an expert witness. So 16 that -- and I know we don't have a full Board tonight 17 so I doubt that you're going to want to go to a vote, 18 even if we could complete Mr. Malanga. 19 So Ms. Chandler, when do we have a hole in 20 the agenda to continue this application? 21 MS. CHANDLER: Honestly, not until 22 November. 23 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Well, this is September so 24 I can't get you on in October, Ms. Porter. Do you need 25 to check with any witnesses about coming back in Page 128 1 MR. PORTER: At this time we would take an 2 adjournment to November. 3 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. Members of the 4 public -- 5 MR. FAGAN: Mr. Chairperson, pardon the 6 interruption. We do have a member of the public with 7 their hand raised. I'm unclear if you had closed 8 public comment or not. 9 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Yes, public comment was 10 closed. 11 MR. FAGAN: Okay. So the person with their 12 hand raised will not be heard at this time. 13 CHAIRMAN NEUER: That's correct. Members 14 of the public, this application will not be concluded 15 tonight. We have a meeting scheduled for November 16 21st, 2024. That's a regular meeting. This 17 application is carried to that meeting. 18 I alert you that the Applicant has 19 requested a Special Meeting in October. I will poll 20 the Board between now and next week as to availability 21 of Board members with a willingness and ability to 22 attend such a Special meeting. If there is going to be 23 a meeting prior to November 21st notices will be sent 24 and published and in that case you will come back some 25 time in October. Otherwise make a notation on