Plans for New Electric Substation Questioned by Homeowner, City

CAPE MAY – Former Mayor Edward Mahaney said that the need for a more modern power infrastructure with planned redundancy became apparent in 2010 when a blizzard knocked out 80 percent of the city’s power for days.
Even when crews arrived from as far as Alabama to aid in restoring power, the aged equipment presented problems, Mahaney said recently.
Atlantic City Electric (ACE) noted that the power infrastructure today in the coastal communities is at the end of any expected life.
Resiliency, reliability, and capacity needs can only be met with new upgrades and these come with new standards, standards that include measures for greater safety for the men and women who work on the transmission lines.
The substation sits back from Elmira Street, along Venice, but closer to Bank Street. It is a substation with one transformer. 
A transformer problem can disrupt power delivery to a large area. The utility plan calls for significantly expanding the substation, bringing its footprint up to Elmira Street.
The upgraded substation would then consume much of the block along Venice Street. The larger substation would house two transformers providing an ability to grow the total power load brought into the substation for distribution. The dual transformers would provide redundancy for greater reliability.
What is unknown at this stage is what changes will have to be made to the transmission and distribution infrastructure to reap the benefits of the upgrade.
The media relations department at ACE stated: “The transmission and distribution portion of the project is not finalized yet.” 
When asked specifically about the galvanized steel poles that so inflamed Stone Harbor, the response was that “There will be installation of poles associated with this project. However, at this time the scope of the work is yet to be determined including the type and number of poles that will be installed.”
Here lies one difficulty. What neighbors like Eloise Voccella, who owns a home near the proposed expansion site, wants to know are the details that are not available.
Neighbors worry that the city will agree in the permit and approval process for the substation expansion without first having the transmission and distribution plans that will surely follow.
Voccella voiced several concerns.
The movement of the substation closer to her home raises health safety concerns she fears. She said she is doing extensive research on the matter.
She also worries that the appearance and the potential dangers will impact the value of her property. She has considered selling before the project goes through any approval process.
Another concern raised by neighbors is the regular flooding in the proposed expansion area.
“It is a flood zone,” said Voccella, who has spent years of watching the lot flood with regularity when it storms.
For its part, the utility acknowledges that it will have to build the substation in accordance with “FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) flood elevation requirements.”
ACE officials said that the new expanded structure that will replace the existing control building would be tasteful and meet city requirements.
The utility stated, “The existing landscaping and fencing will be enhanced with additional plantings and new fencing.” Whether or not that means something similar to the almost residential façade used for the Peermont station in Avalon is not clear.
Interim City Manager Neil Young said that only the most general of meetings had been held with the new city administration.
“This all still needs to go through the full planning board and Historic Preservation Commission approval process,” Young said. The utility admits that its effort is “pending necessary permit approvals.”
The power company has its schedule as well. The utility said, pending those approvals “Contractors are expected to start construction at the station in September 2018 and work until April 2019.”
A second phase would be needed from some start date in the fall of 2019, with completion targeted for spring 2020.
Upgrades in Other Places
Atlantic City Electric (ACE) has been engaged in a series of infrastructure upgrade projects along the county shoreline. Most recently Seven Mile Island was the site for a Peermont Substation at 60th Street in Avalon. 
That project was aimed at replacing a dated infrastructure and providing the island with capacity to meet fast-growing demand, according to the utility.
It was not without significant controversy. The high-power transmission lines coming onto the island and feeding the substation required installation of a new standard in poles to support the overhead wires.
That meant taller 70-foot galvanized steel poles with significantly greater girth replacing the traditional wooden poles. It also meant protests from homeowners who saw the new infrastructure as unsightly and damaging to property values. 
The island’s two communities of Avalon and Stone Harbor combine for $12 billion in assessed value and for many, especially in the Borough of Stone Harbor, anger grew as the full picture of the project became clear and the poles began to cross the bridge from Middle Township.
The issue in Stone Harbor became one that led to challenges to officials in the Republican primary, the election that really counts in the heavily-Republican borough.
While it is difficult to quantify, it is likely that anger stemming from the utility upgrade cost a 20-year mayor and a long-serving council member their seats.
Looking back at the controversy, a part of the problem leading to anger and a sense of betrayal on the part of the public was the piecemeal way in which the full picture of the project became known.
The concept of an upgraded power infrastructure was an easy one to support, but the new standards for poles to carry the transmission lines only became public knowledge late in the project. Members of the public blamed officials. Officials claimed they were never fully aware of what was coming either. The utility claimed it had been fully forthcoming.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.