Planning Board OKs natural gas regulator
Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. has been granted approval to build a natural gas regulator station on Washington Avenue at Janet Street.
The project was approved by the city Planning Board in a 4-1 vote Tuesday evening. Voting against the plan was board Vice Chairman Charles Polacco.
The approval is for a one-year period and requires Central Hudson to make sure the property at 245 Washington Ave., currently a vacant lot, is maintained and that additional insulation is added to the regulator station’s pipes to dampen potential noise from the site.
Last month, the board voted that the project needed no further environmental review.
Tera Stoner, an engineer for Poughkeepsie-based Central Hudson, said construction could begin in about two months and that the system could be in service before the next heating season, likely near the end of November.
Prior to the project’s approval, several local residents once against implored the Planning Board to either extend its review or reject the proposal. They primarily cited concerns with noise that could be generated
on site, as well as the potential devaluation of properties in the neighborhood.
Valeria Gheorghiu, a local attorney who has worked with a group called the Uptown Kingston Community Alliance, told the board it had the right to place conditions on Central Hudson’s special-use permit.
“I would strongly suggest listening to the residential owners in the neighborhood because this aboveground gas regulator is not in keeping with the community character and is diminishing property values,” Gheorghiu said. “And they’ve been hiring experts and fully demonstrated that.”
She said the board could “go down the route of litigation”
or consider alternatives such as requiring Central Hudson to build the station underground.
Attorney Anthony Morando, who represents Central Hudson, disagreed with contentions that the station will be harmful.
“We do believe the record shows the opposite of this,” Morando said. He said Central Hudson provided additional information about noise coming from the site and has offered further measures to reduce it.
Morando also said a property value report submitted by opponents is not relevant because it compares property assessments against a completely different type of utility infrastructure.
The new regulator station will replace existing apparatus on nearby Emerson Street that was built in 1930. The new station is to consist of two lines that come out of the ground and go through equipment that is designed to balance the pressure of natural gas running to about 5,100 customers.
Even after the project was approved, residents continued to ask questions about it. Central Hudson representatives agreed to meet with them in a nearby conference room while the Planning Board continued its meeting in the Common Council chamber at City Hall.