Village of Warwick Planning Bd. Approves Power Facility

By Elise Fisch

On Tues., Dec. 8, the Village of Warwick Planning Board held a brief meeting in the Warwick Town Hall to review several site plan extension requests for various projects throughout the Village. The Board also held a public hearing regarding the new location of Convergent Energy & Power, which will be going in at 28 Church St.

The applicant of the Village View project, a 28-lot subdivision located in the area of Woodside Dr. and Locust St., submitted to the board a request for an extension to their site plan approval. This extension will be for 90 days and will put the next renewal, if one is required, on the agenda for the meeting scheduled for Tues., Mar. 10, 2021.

The Warwick Commons development project applicant also submitted and was approved for a 90-day extension to the site plan approval, which also puts them on the agenda for the same Mar. 10 meeting next year.

The members of the Board then opened up the floor for public comment on the 28 Church St. amended site plan for Convergent Energy & Power. A concerned local resident of Colonial Ave., raised the question of the overall noise level generated, if any, since the facility will be in constant operation, including throughout the night. 

 Representatives from CE & Power said that the units involved in their operations would make no more noise than that of a home air conditioning unit. It was also noted by the Board’s engineer, David Getz, that the site itself is located about 750 ft. from any residences, which might mean no noise interference will carry far enough to be heard by its neighbors.

The amended site plan, including a decommissioning plan of the facility, was then approved by the Board, contingent upon certain conditions agreed to by the applicant’s representatives. These conditions included the amendment of minor wording errors contained within the document, as well as the requirement to provide copies of the bonds CE & Power has used with other municipalities in the company’s past development deals. The project will be reviewed again when these conditions have been completed by CE & Power and submitted to the Board.

Next Meeting

The next Planning Board meeting will be its first meeting of the 2021 calendar year, held on Tues., Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Warwick Town Hall, located at 132 Kings Hwy. in Warwick.