Lynbrook, Rockville Centre at odds over PSEG plan

The frustration was evident in Lynbrook Village Trustee Mike Hawxhurst’s voice at a meeting on July 16, when he addressed a request from the Village of Rockville Centre that PSEG Long Island use an alternative route for the Western Nassau Transmission Project. The route would enhance Rockville Centre’s electric system, but impact more Lynbrook roads.

“Rockville Centre is looking to re-route the project to pay for upgrades to their system that they don’t want to pay for,” Hawxhurst said, referring to a $176 million project to install a 7.3-mile, 138-kilovolt underground transmission line between Garden City and Lynbrook. “So our board here is fighting that, because it would destroy extra streets in our village that don’t need to be ripped up, but Rockville Centre is looking to cheap out on work they need to do on their own.”

The cable, which would power homes and businesses, would stretch from the East Garden City substation, in Uniondale, to the Valley Stream substation, in Lynbrook. It must be installed by 2020 in order to meet federal regulations.

The project is expected to begin in mid-2019 and be completed in about 18 months. The work, which would involve digging trenches to install underground copper cables encased in plastic sheathing, is expected to take place mostly in the Town of Hempstead, but the project could also run through Lynbrook, Rockville Centre, Valley Stream, Malverne and Garden City, depending on the route.

PSEG came up with three potential routes for the line after dividing the area into segments and giving each possible route a score based on the impact on the environment, its social effects (such as traffic disruptions) and construction factors (such as having to cross the Southern State Parkway and Long Island Rail Road tracks). Then a computer program was used to determine the best course.

The preferred route mostly parallels Hempstead Avenue, while the eastern alternative route — which Rockville Centre officials favor — runs mostly along Peninsula Boulevard. The western alternative follows the preferred route until it turns west on First Street in Garden City. The state Public Service Commission will ultimately decide the route, and is still reviewing PSEG’s application for the project, which was approved by the Long Island Power Authority.

The preferred route would begin on Stewart Avenue in Garden City and extend to Whitehall Street in Lynbrook, but Phil Andreas, the superintendent of Rockville Centre’s Electric Department, recommended using the eastern alternative, because it creates the possibility of installing a new interconnection substation to help Rockville Centre combat electrical issues.

“When we suggested an alternative route . . . that would permit a less expensive upgrade to enhance the reliability of Rockville Centre,” Andreas said, according to the transcript of a public meeting hosted by the state Department of Public Service on May 30 in Mineola, “we were told, to our great frustration, that the planning process was too far along, even though we’ve repeatedly raised issues to both PSEG and LIPA.”

The request is part of Rockville Centre village officials’ attempts to persuade PSEG to address the village’s recommended enhancements to its electric system. Andreas said there have been at least 24 major outages in the village since 2013, and called on PSEG to conduct a condition assessment of the system’s equipment and structures.

The pleas come as Rockville Centre’s Electric Department seeks to build a microgrid, a local energy network that can operate separately from a larger grid. The microgrid would serve about 5,000 residents and 58 facilities, village officials said, including hospitals, first responder headquarters, drug stores, supermarkets and gas stations.

Lynbrook village officials, however, have issues with the eastern alternative, because the Peninsula Boulevard route would mean underground work on many roads the village has paved in recent years, including a large portion of Sherman Street.

“They need to do upgrades to the service lines of their plants, and instead of wanting to absorb the cost themselves, they’re trying to hijack this plan a little bit,” Hawxhurst told the Herald. “. . . It would rip up a couple of miles of streets that were just paved in Lynbrook, and that’s just not acceptable to me.”

Lynbrook Mayor Alan Beach said that village officials would like to support Rockville Centre, but added that he was concerned about the impact of rerouting the plan. “The village board and I would like to be considerate of our surrounding villages,” Beach said. “My first priority is the welfare and safety of Lynbrook. We’re all working together.”

Village Attorney Tom Atkinson and Trustee Robert Boccio have attended monthly committee meetings to assert the village’s position to representatives of PSEG and the PSC. Rockville Centre officials hired Washington-based attorney Jeffrey Genzer, whose practice focuses on energy and environmental counseling, to represent them at the meetings.

Genzer did not return calls seeking comment. Atkinson said that Lynbrook officials would like to work with Rockville Centre, but are not proponents of the eastern alternative.

“We are not opposed to them doing anything to help their electric,” Atkinson said. “However, we are adamantly opposed to any route that comes through the heart of the village or a residential area of the village that is currently proposed by the alternative route. We’ll go to great lengths to work against that.”

PSEG spokesman Jeremy Walsh told the Herald earlier this month that using the eastern alternative would impact customers financially. “Rockville Centre’s call for this transmission line to be rerouted closer to their village would benefit their utility at a substantial additional projected cost to all PSEG Long Island customers,” Walsh said.

In February, PSEG representatives said that the company would be in contact with officials from all affected municipalities to gather their input. They also held three community outreach sessions in May to educate the public about the project.

“The state Public Service Commission will be responsible for finalizing the project route later on in the . . . process,” Walsh said Monday. “The proposed route and the alternate routes in PSEG Long Island’s application remain the same as what was presented at the open houses in May.”

Ben Strack contributed to this story.