Hearing for proposed gas regulator scheduled
Public meeting on Washington Avenue station to take place Oct. 16 at City Hall
KINGSTON, N.Y. » A public hearing will be held this month on Central Hudson Gas & Electric Co.’s controversial plan to install a natural gas regulation station off Washington Avenue.
According to the city’s Planning Board agenda, the public hearing will be held on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 420 Broadway.
The hearing is an extension of one that began at last month’s Planning Board session.
A hearing held on Sept. 18 drew concerns from eight people who asked for more time to evaluate information given during a 30-minute presentation by the utility, which is seeking to retire an 87-year-old station on Emerson Street.
“For the past 20 years, Central Hudson has been looking for a replacement site, being ... limited (by) having to locate a site roughly within a few blocks of where the existing one is,” Utility Engineer Dan Farnan said at the September meeting.
Farnan said the proposed regulating station,
which would be at 245 Washington Ave., would consist of two lines that come out of the ground and go through equipment intended to balance pressure of natural gas running to about 5,150 customers.
Officials said the pressure would be 15 pounds per square inch going into the equipment, which would reduce the pressure to 0.3 pounds per square inch.
Central Hudson said the Emerson Street facility is buried as a “station in vault” that is difficult to work on and requires venting that has an odor.
Site plans show the proposed new facility would be screened with trees and a picket fence would be placed around the property.
Resident Felipe Gaudet said at the same meeting, the Central Hudson application caught property owners by surprise and they want more information on what other sites were considered.
“We would like our questions answered regarding the process of searching for alternative sites for this project,” she said, adding, “I would like to know which sites they were looking at over the last 20 years.”
Alderman Douglas Koop, D-Ward 2, has said the proposed station is close enough to three wards that more time is needed for residents to evaluate the plans. Among concerns are whether there would be noise and whether property values would be hurt.