Meeting Thursday on PSE&G Plan to Take Longwood Lake Land Through Eminent Domain

Representatives of PSE&G and area homeowners will meet Thursday about the power company's plans to take property in the Longwood Lake section of Jefferson Township through eminent domain.

The aquisition would be in conjunction with PSE&G's controversial plan to add 500-kilovolt power lines to towers reaching up to 195 feet tall in a 140-mile range from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, including property that runs through Longwood Lake. The project is known as the Susquehanna-Roseland Line, and has been delayed as it awaits administrative approvals. Environmental groups and others have opposed it under an umbrella group known as the Stop the Lines Coalition, which includes the Longwood Lake Cabin Owners’ Association.

PSE&G hopes to use land in the Longwood Lake section of town for a temporary access road it would use during construction of the towers, said Deann Muzikar, a spokesperson for the utility.

Melvin Greenberg, an attorney for the Longwood Lake association, said PSE&G had sought an easement for access to wooded property owned by the association—but the association turned it down. It was then that PSE&G raised the possibility of eminent domain, he said. 

"PSE&G always views condemnation as a last resort when reasonable efforts to achieve a negotiated settlement have been unsuccessful," Muzikar said in a statement e-mailed to Patch. 

No homes in Jefferson Township would be condemned under PSE&G's eminent domain request.

Today's meeting is a pre-hearing conference—where the parties involved will set a schedule for how hearings about the Longwood Lake matter will proceed, potentially leading up to a vote on condemnation by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.  BPU Communications Director  J. Gregory Reinert said the meeting would be the first step among several.

The eminent domain request also includes properties in Montville and Rockaway. According to the BPU, the three addresses affected are:

• Land owned by the Longwood Lake Cabin Owner's Association on Berkshire Valley Road, Jefferson Township
• 148 Upper Hibernia Road, Rockaway 
• 134 Waughaw Road, Montville

The Longwood Lake association's opposition to the project extends beyond its concerns over the area sought for the access road. In its May 2010 newsletter, it told members:

It affects us because the new lines would replace our existing power lines and towers with new lines and towers that would be about twice as high as the existing towers.  The existing towers are not very visible to most of us because they are not much higher than the tree line as viewed from most of our cabins and from the lake. The new towers would extend a hundred feet or more higher than the tree line, so they would be far more obtrusive than the existing towers. Aside from the horrible aesthetics, the new lines are likely to be far noisier than the old ones, and the construction activities involved in installing the new lines and towers pose the risk of substantial damage to our property and to the lake itself. There are many reasons that this project is a bad idea beyond its immediate effect on our property.  One major negative for this project is that it relies on coal-generated power in Pennsylvania, the dirtiest power souce in use in the U.S.  Pollution and acid rain from the new coal-fired plants will be blown accross New Jersey and would increase the risk of acid rain over the lake.  

The association also said in the newsletter it was in talks with PSE&G "to minimize the negative impact on our property and to be paid compensation for the impacts that cannot be mitigated, in the event that the project goes forward."

The BPU has approved PSE&G’s request to build the lines, however, the company must still get approvals from the Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP will not issue any permits until the National Park Service completes an environmental impact study. Therefore, according to PSE&G, the in-service date for the eastern portion of the line is 2014 and the western portion will be in service in 2015. The utility maintains a timeline of events related to the power line project here.