Planning Board — August 10, 2026

What happened

Five members were present: Chair Dave Campeas, Ibad Khan, Mayor Neena Singh, Anthony Glockler and Om Sharma. The minutes record no public participation on items not on the agenda. The meeting was almost entirely one hearing.

Case PB-04-26, PSE&G Substation. At about 1:43 PSE&G’s attorney opened the application for preliminary and final major site plan approval, with variances and design waivers, to build a substation at 151 Trent Place (Block 4001, Lot 26.01). The lot, about 7.1 acres in the Limited Manufacturing zone, was created by an earlier minor subdivision and bought by PSE&G. A public utility is a conditionally permitted use there. The application was deemed complete on April 15, 2026.

PSE&G’s witnesses testified that:

• The Trent Place Class H Substation is an unmanned 69/13 kV facility intended to offload the overloaded Sunnymead and Mount Rose substations, accommodate growth including electric vehicles, and provide capacity for about 35 MW of solar generation. It would serve about 6,000 customers, including East Mountain Hospital and the Carrier Clinic (5:03).
• It would be monitored remotely around the clock, with about two weekly maintenance visits of 20 to 45 minutes. A pad is provided for an emergency mobile transformer.
• In an emergency, Township first responders would be escorted on site by qualified PSE&G personnel because of electrical hazards. Construction is planned to start around June 2027 and run about two and a half years, to the end of 2029 (15:01).
• The site plan includes a 10-foot security fence, retaining walls up to about 7 feet, bioretention basins for stormwater and a sidewalk along the frontage. Downward, shielded lighting would run dusk to dawn; upward lighting would come on only for night-time emergency maintenance.
• Screening includes 264 new trees and evergreen buffers of 40 to 60 feet at maturity, plus native plantings in the wetland buffer (1:00:01).
• The variances and waivers cover setbacks for the mobile transformer pad and accessory structures, crushed stone in buffer areas, retaining-wall height and sidewalk disturbance in a critical area.

Board members asked about coordination with the township’s Office of Emergency Management, whether expanding existing substations had been considered, and whether a first responder should have to wait for a PSE&G escort (20:11). PSE&G said the site came out of its long-term planning, that construction would not interrupt service, and that connections into the facility would generally run underground. (At the September 14 memorialization the Board’s attorney clarified that the lines out to the roughly 6,000 customers will not be underground.) The Board planner asked for a darker, earth-toned retaining-wall veneer, and the applicant agreed to work it out with the planner.

Public comment. At about 1:25:03 the Chair opened the hearing to the public. The one speaker, identified in the minutes as T. Kharrubi, said they were building a house in the township and asked where PSE&G would tap the water line on Trent Place for the hydrant the Fire Marshal recommended. The answer was that the Fire Official would decide.

The vote. On a motion by Mayor Singh, seconded by Om Sharma, the Board approved the application subject to conditions, 5-0 (1:35:07). The agenda’s future items listed E. Kahn Development Corp. (199 Grandview Road), the 23 Orchard redevelopment plan, Country Club Meadows Building 4 and Springpoint at Montgomery. The meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m.

Why it matters

The substation was approved at its first hearing, with one member of the public speaking. Neighbours of Trent Place will see a fenced utility site screened by new planting. The approval was memorialized by resolution on September 14, 2026. What residents will notice next is construction, expected to begin around mid-2027.

Worth watching

• Why PSE&G wants the substation (5:03)
• Emergency access and the construction schedule (15:01)
• Board questions (20:11)
• Landscaping and screening (1:00:01)
• Public comment (1:25:03)
• The vote (1:35:07)

Sources

• The township’s archive: August 10, 2026 Planning Board meeting video and transcript. Quotations from the video come from uncorrected closed captions, and timestamps are approximate.
• Planning Board minutes, August 10, 2026
• Planning Board agenda, August 10, 2026
• Notice of Decision, Resolution PB-04-26, memorialized September 14, 2026