Orange and Rockland plans new substation in Tappan to improve service

O&R plans new substation to improve service in Tappan
Orange and Rockland Press Release
July 28, 2008

Orange and Rockland Utilities is planning to invest $8.8 million to build a new electric substation on Oak Tree Road in Tappan that will improve the electric service reliability in Tappan and Palisades in New York and Northvale in New Jersey.

The proposed site is light industrial/office.

The site chosen for the substation is presently a vacant, heavily wooded parcel that is located in a light industrial/office zone according to the Town of Orangetown’s zoning map. That location is far from any historic district or zone.

There are a number of commercial businesses here. Although Sullivan’s Tappan Inn is closed right now, Patrick Sullivan, the owner, is renovating the building and plans to re-open the restaurant soon.

East on Oak Tree Road is the old Solatron property, which is now an office and industrial park that houses about a dozen businesses. East of that are Mystic Granite and Marble’s plant and the heavy equipment, truck and construction materials yard shared by Tobar Excavating and Ross Brothers Landscaping. Across the street from that is a very large complex of four Advanced Distribution warehouses measuring a total of 109,978 square feet.

On the other side of Sullivan’s parking lot is another office building that has a large satellite dish microwave array. There’s also a busy public parking lot at the recreational hiking trail. The nearest house is over 200 feet away from the edge of the proposed substation site.

The substation will be hidden from view.

The substation is designed to occupy less than a one-acre plateau on a 14.54-acre parcel. Much of the rest of the property off of the plateau is wetlands. The physical makeup of the plateau will tested and evaluated before any work on the site begins.

The substation equipment will be installed on an elevated rise about 75 feet south of Oak Tree Road. The footprint of the station – its fence would measure 134 feet by 159 feet – is the minimum needed to accommodate the equipment required to supply the load and minimize the environmental impact.

O&R’s plans call for keeping the 50-foot-thick swath of trees between Oak Tree Road and the proposed substation’s fence. Except for a small driveway opening into the substation, all the trees along Oak Tree Road will remain and will make an excellent natural buffer to help visually screen this facility. O&R plans to supplement that buffer with evergreens and decorative vegetation, and is examining other screening methods as well. The Company has hired a well-known landscape architect to help guide this work.

The substation will not be higher than the existing 60-foot-high tree buffer along Oak Tree Road. The equipment in the station will consist mainly of two electric transformer banks and a 13.2kV switchgear building. The steel structure around the transformers will consist of six steel columns that are 29 feet high and three feet in diameter.

One of the columns will have a much thinner lightning rod attached to it (similar to a flagpole), making that column’s total height 44 feet, 4 inches. That pole will be the only structure of that height in the substation. This substation is comparable in height and coverage to O&R’s Rockland Electric Company 69kV substation just recently rebuilt in Cresskill, N.J.

Our proposed Tappan substation has been compared to O&R’s Tallman substation in Airmont. This is not a good comparison. Because of its higher voltage, Tallman’s steel columns are 55 feet high and its lightning mast is 75 feet in height. Additionally, there is no natural tree buffer at the Tallman substation due to the network of roads and the railroad facilities adjacent to the site.

The proposed site is outside the flood plain, not in a wetlands area.

The plateau area is dry. The substation’s equipment will be outside the flood plain in this area according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) map. Because construction plans are outside the wetlands area, approval by the Army Corps of Engineers is not required.

The substation is necessary and it’s primarily Orangetown’s growth that is driving the need, not Northvale, NJ.

Tappan’s electric service is presently provided by two O&R substations – one in Old Tappan, NJ and one in Sparkill. Due to ever-increasing electric demand, these substations are already strained to capacity. O&R predicts electric usage in this vicinity to continue to grow at 3% in New York, compared to 1.8 % in New Jersey. Despite the visibility of redevelopment in the Northvale, NJ area, it’s actually Orangetown that’s driving the need for the Tappan substation.

The current situation places O&R and its Orangetown customers in the vulnerable position of having minimal electric system backup should equipment be out of service or experience damage from Mother Nature or another event.

To be specific about the growth anticipated, continued development is expected at the former site of the Orangeburg Pipe factory, near Lowe’s. Additional growth can be expected in the corridors along Route 303, the CSX rail line and Western Highway at the sewage treatment plants, the former drive-in site and the old Nike missile base. Future redevelopment of the Zacharakis properties along Route 303 in Tappan also can be expected. Essentially, growth potential in southern Orangetown dwarfs the growth potential in Northvale.

In the proposed substation, 50 percent of the load would be from New Jersey customers and 50 percent would be from New York customers. For those of you with concerns that Orangetown be the home of a substation serving New Jersey residents, 44 percent of the electric load in Orangetown is served by O&R-owned substations located in New Jersey.

Orangetown residents will benefit from the taxes on the proposed facility.

O&R estimates that, when built, the substation will pay $244,240 in property taxes. That would mean an additional $171,980 for the South Orangetown School District and $72,260 to the town and county.

O&R’s decision to site the proposed facility in Tappan resulted from an extensive search.

Finding the right site for a substation is not easy. O&R investigated 13 potential sites for a new substation in both New York and New Jersey and narrowed it down to the Oak Tree Road parcel. The other twelve were found to be unacceptable, once reviewed in more detail, or unavailable. Nevertheless, in response to community concerns, our real estate experts have been asked to re-initiate another search to see if other suitable properties that meet our requirements are now available. We also have reached out to government officials in both New York and New Jersey to see if they can help in this effort.

O&R has met with civic and community leaders, including those with concerns about the Company’s plans, and has asked them to lend any assistance they can in indentifying an alternate location.

To date, no new suitable site has been found. O&R has entered into a contract to purchase this property and is contractually obligated to pursue, in good faith, the approvals for the substation.

O&R’s Director – Public Affairs Tom Brizzolara, both of whose parents’ families helped build Tappan and who has been a member of the local Rotary Club for 30 years, said, “If we build at the Oak Tree Road site, I give you my word to my friends and family in Tappan that we’ll work with the community and seek to be the best neighbor we can possibly be.”

O&R plans new substation to improve service in Tappan Orange and Rockland Press Release July 28, 2008

O&R plans new substation to improve service in Tappan
Orange and Rockland Press Release
July 28, 2008