PSE&G Project Can Continue in Ridgewood, State Rules

A state regulatory board on Friday ruled that PSE&G may proceed with a utility project contested for months by Ridgewood residents and officials, without any modifications to its plans.

In a written opinion, the state Board of Public Utilities stated that after reviewing local concerns over the controversial project, including the complaint that the poles exceeded a 45-foot height limitation set by village ordinance, Ridgewood's objections were “outweighed by the greater public interest to be served by the project.”

“Even assuming that the project is subject to the forty-five foot height restriction contained in Village Ordinance…the increase in reliability and safety that will result from the installation of the new poles outweighs the Village’s interest in maintaining the height limitations,” the board wrote.

The project to install 65-foot poles, running 69-kilovolt transmission lines above South Maple Avenue, Spring Avenue, Hope Street and Ridgewood Avenue, is part of a company reliability upgrade to connect substations in Fair Lawn, Paramus, Dumont and Bergenfield.

According to the utility company, the project will reduce overload conditions on the system, and the sturdier poles will better withstand storms.

Ridgewood, the only municipality where significant opposition to the project arose, argued before the BPU in September that the route selected by the utility, without any consultation from local officials, was the “least appropriate” option, citing flooding, short setbacks from the roadway and other neighborhood issues.

“Clearly, I am disappointed with the BPU’s decision and disappointed that the Board didn’t use this situation as an opportunity to begin a much-needed statewide conversation about putting electrical lines underground,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said in a prepared statement, referring to an alternative suggested by the village.

“The increasing frequency of destructive storms combined with the increasing demand for electricity suggests that the ‘business-as-usual’ approach – more poles with higher voltage – must be revisited.”

Village officials have previously said they hoped their challenge of the project could create precedent for future local input on utility upgrades, while PSE&G consistently maintained that incorporating diverse local interests in such projects would undermine regional planning.

While noting that, seeing no viable alternatives, local input would have been unlikely to change the details of the project, the board stated that the village’s argument regarding a lack of communication from the utility was “sound.”

“Accordingly, when PSE&G is planning a project, it should arrange for meetings with appropriate municipal officials before construction begins to explain the nature of the work to be done and to discuss how that work may be accomplished in a manner that is efficient yet as non-intrusive on the local residents as is possible,” the board wrote.

Karen Johnson, a spokesperson for PSE&G, said the company appreciates the board's decision and has already begun working on improving its communication with local communities.

"This experience has reinforced to us the importance of communications with the communities in which we are building and upgrading facilities," she said in a statement. "We have already implemented some improvements in our outreach and will continue to look at ways to improve the process to better assure that communities understand the rationale for projects and to allay any health and safety concerns in advance."

Aronsohn said that the BPU's statement on early consultation, a sticking point for local officials during their hearing before the board, was important.

“This is critical, because while PSE&G is the expert when it comes to power supply, we local officials are the experts when it comes to our communities,” the mayor said.

The board said that health concerns raised by residents should continue to be addressed by health officials.

The moratorium on pole installations that had been in place while the board weighed Ridgewood’s complaint was lifted by the BPU decision, though it was not immediately clear when work would continue in the village.