Greenwich Opposes CL&P's Planned Closure of Town Service Center

A Northeast Utilities plan to streamline efficiency and reduce costs by closing the central Greenwich service center and reassigning personnel to a center in Stamford is drawing opposition from Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei.

At the Oct. 25 Board of Selectmen's meeting, Tesei revealed the utility plans to shutter its Connecticut Light & Power service center locateed at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Field Point Road. "They will be moving to Glenbrook in Stamford. They say it's seven miles away, but in a storm that seven miles becomes 21 miles ... We don't believe it is a wise decision. This is the economic engine for the state of Connecticut."

And as the utility plans to shutter that facility, it also is considering using adjacent land to build a new substation to improve service in town, officials said.

According to CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross, the work center and the 23 employees assigned to Railroad Avenue will be relocated to the utility's center in the 600 block of Glenbrook Road in Stamford by the end of the fourth quarter of 2014. The move is part of an overall reconfiguration of Northeast Utilities-owned companies in the Northeast, Gross said.

Regionally, the only other relocations planned involve a "small maintenance facility" on Harbor Avenue in Norwalk, "which is being moved next door to another center on Harbor Avenue," according to Gross. A facility in New Milford and the 24 employees there will be relocated to a Newtown work center, also by the end of 2014, Gross said.

Gross could not provide how much the consolidation of Greenwich and Stamford would save. "By consolidating, we'll have more resources and materials in one central location. We will continue to evaluate facilities locations to ensure that outstanding customer service is delivered," Gross said.

Gross said the consolidation would not impact the utility's storm response. "It's important to note that our storm response procedures have not change at all. We have strategic staging areas (in Greenwich) for restoration work during these emergencies," Gross explained.

Tesei said of the planned closure, "We are going to be riding herd on them. I believe it will be extremely detrimental to the residents of Greenwich." Tesei said he will be meeting with CL&P William Herdegen to discuss the plan. "This is the economic engine for the state of Connecticut with the businesses and what they contribute, we would be given short shrift in this decision." 

As CL&P looks to shutter the office in the two-story building adjacent to the central Greenwich substation, the utility also is planning to build a new power station in Greenwich. And according to Gross, the utility-owned property across the street—which currently houses the Pet Pantry Warehouse store—is "our preferred site."

"We are looking at least four locations in Greenwich for a new substation," Gross added. He declined to identify the other locations. "For increased reliability in that particular area of Greenwich, that's why we would like to locate there," Gross said.

Construction of a substation is years ago, however,

According to Gross, "Our plan is to file the application in late 2014 or early 2015" with the Connecticut Siting Council which would hold a series of public hearings on a proposal before deciding whether to approve a plan. 

Approvals on location, design and size, is up to the Siting Council. Construction of a substation would not be presented to Greenwich planning and zoning agencies for review. 

"There are opportunities for local input through the Siting Council process. It is all done on the state level," Gross said. Regarding the estimated cost of construction, "all of that will come when the plans are filed with Connecticut siting council," Gross said.

"Assuming they give us go ahead, ideally we would have new substation by end of 2017," Gross said.