Power Express proposes taking Rockland properties

The $6 billion Champlain Hudson Power Express Project has petitioned a court to condemn property in Rockland County to install underground cables.

CHPE Properties Inc. says it needs to use the eminent domain process to acquire temporary and permanent easements on about three acres of commercial property along a 0.3 mile stretch of State Route 9W in West Haverstraw.

The properties are owned  by Double Wing Realty Corp., Monsey, and Mallside Partners BH LLC and NECG 5040 BH LLC, of Spring Valley.

The project envisions delivering more than 1,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power from Canada to a million homes in New York City. Nearly 340 miles of power cables are to be installed under Lake Chaplain and the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, and below ground along several land segments on the route.

CHPE Properties says it needs temporary easements to allow access to the West Haverstraw properties to install two high voltage, direct current electric cables.

It needs permanent underground easements with no encumbrances above ground for about 1,041 linear feet and up to 35 feet wide.

CHPE Properties claims it was unsuccessful in negotiating for the easements. The petitions pledge $1,003,000 for the easements.

There are two problems with CHPE’s position, Manhattan attorney Scott C. Levenson said on behalf of the property owners.

First, he said the properties are worth about $3 million, when one considers the impact of the loss of parking spaces on the value of the commercial leases. He said CHPE had offered only $700,000.

“They have not done a proper valuation,” he said, and “have not made a good faith offer.”

Second, he said, the underground cables were going to be put under Route 9W but the state Department of Transportation objected that the highway route would be inconvenient.

“Inconvenience to a government body,” he said, “does not warrant taking private lands.”

The petitions were originally filed in Rockland Supreme Court on May 24, moved to U.S. District Court in White Plains, and on July 1 moved back to Rockland Supreme Court.

To read more from Bill Heltzel, click here.