Terms for Island-Greenport cable are on the table
Greenport Mayor George Hubbard told the Village Board he’s waiting for word from PSEG about terms he has proposed for a deal to run electric cables from Greenport to Shelter Island.
PSEG is reviewing a list of proposed terms Greenport Mayor George Hubbard has submitted to allow the utility company to run electric cables from Shelter Island to the southern tip of Fifth Street in the village.
New cables are needed to provide reliable power to the Island where there’s now only a single cable since others have been damaged.
Mr. Hubbard told the Greenport Village Board at its work session August 20 that he had submitted a list of requirements, including rent the utility company would have to pay Greenport, issues affecting roads and pavement and drainage.
Working out some of the drainage issues with PSEG would provide a template for dealing with road runoff in other parts of Greenport, the mayor said. All municipalities are federally mandated to work out drainage issues contributing to water pollution by developing Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) projects. The PSEG proposal could fit with the Village’s efforts to comply with that mandate, he said.
A workable agreement with the power company to allow the electrical cables to run between Shelter Island Heights and Greenport could bring in “a boat load of money to use for our property,” Mr. Hubbard said.
He noted that since submitting the list of requests on behalf of the village, he hasn’t heard back from PSEG about further negotiations.
Utility spokesman Jeffrey Weir confirmed that PSEG is in receipt of the information Mr. Hubbard sent and the company is reviewing “our options on how best to proceed. PSEG is eager to find a workable solution to ensure the long term reliability for our customers on Shelter Island.”
The reason PSEG is looking at the Fifth Street site is that there’s already Verizon cables set up there. In addition, other alternatives have proven controversial.
An effort to run the cables from Crescent Beach on Shelter Island to the end of Bay Shore Road in Greenport West failed in 2013 when Long Island Power Authority subcontractor Bortech had to stop work on what was then estimated to be a $9 million project. Unable to complete the project successfully after several months of trying, Bortech was fired.
Two plans emerged once PSEG entered the picture:
• Restarting the original cable project with a different and, according to PSEG, reliable subcontractor.
• Building a substation on Shelter Island.
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said there was no way he would allow a second try at running the cables to the same area of the town that had undergone so much disruption during the 2013 attempt.
In the wake of lengthy discussions about building an electrical substation on the Island, in June the Town Board passed legislation banning the facilities anywhere on the Island, stating that “a substation is industrial in nature and is not compatible with the rural, residential nature of Shelter Island.”
Despite the presence of several outspoken Fifth Street residents at the August 20 meeting in Greenport, there were no comments from anyone when Mr. Hubbard announced the talks he’s had with PSEG.
Shelter Island Supervisor Jim Dougherty told a questioner at last week’s Town Board work session here that in his talks with Mr. Hubbard, he predicted the mayor was inclined favorably toward the project.
At the same time, Mr. Dougherty said any talk of a project getting under way by this October and concluding by April, as PSEG has proposed, is not going to happen.
