Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation is eyeing the Town of Hyde Park for a service expansion.
Beginning this fall, Central Hudson is extending its natural gas pipeline in Hyde Park so it can include three new housing developments. The pipeline extension would serve the Maple Ridge subdivision, the Hyler Glen subdivision and the Crofton Mews subdivision.
At a special Hyde Park Town Board meeting on Monday, July 11, John Borchert, manager for gas and mechanical engineering for Central Hudson, said the company’s natural gas pipeline currently runs through the town from Violet Avenue in Poughkeepsie north to the corner of Route 9 and West Market Street.
The extension, he said, will cross Route 9 and go through East Market Street to Hudson Drive. From there, the pipeline will run through a “service” roadway that goes from Route 9 to Route 9G, which will ultimately lead to the three subdivisions locations.
“We’re estimating it will be a $1.3 million project,” he said. “It should be finished by the end of 2005 or early 2006.”
The Maple Ridge subdivision calls for 162 townhouses on the west side of Route 9 north of the Vanderbilt Mansion, and the Hyler Glen subdivision will consist of 23 single-family houses on the west side of Route 9 adjacent to and south of Maple Ridge. The Crofton Mews subdivision will have 317 apartment units off Route 9G behind the Moose Club building.
The Maple Ridge and Hyler Glen projects are under way, and the Crofton mews project is expected to break ground next year.
Hyde Park Supervisor Yancy McArthur said the pipeline will fully serve the Maple Ridge and Crofton Mews subdivisions. The Hyler Glen project, McArthur said, has no natural gas mains installed yet, and two of the homes already built there are equipped to use oil for heat. He added, however, that when the Hyler Glen project is finished, the houses will be set up for natural gas use.
“It’s good that they’re extending their natural gas service,” McArthur said. “It’s better for the environment. There won’t be a worry about tank leakages.”
Borchert said Central Hudson will provide on-site supervision during the construction of the pipeline extension, and will follow the town and county’s construction standards as well as the New York State Department of Transportation.
“It’s clean, safe and versatile fuel,” Borchert said. “It’s the fuel of choice for the subdivisions.”
John Maserjian, employee communications and media relations specialist for Central Hudson, said any gas extension project has to meet certain financial conditions before the company does the work.
“We have to have a sufficient number of customers connect to it,” he said. “That number of customers varies from project to project.”
According to Maserjian, the Hyde Park project meets all of the required conditions.
Borchert said the pipeline could also serve other developable land tracts along this route in the future.
“We want this to be a piece of infrastructure for developers to use,” Borchert said. “It would be tied to development as it happens.
“We’re not pushing for development,” he added. “We’re waiting for development. It’s going to be driven by development.”