Comstock Township’s Planning Commission spent nearly three hours on August 27 pressing Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on financial structure and decommissioning assurances for its proposed Swan and Cygnet battery storage project, reaching no decision.
A new chair takes over mid-process
Before turning to the battery storage discussion, commissioners appointed Larry Nichols as the Planning Commission’s new chair and Gregory Nowak as vice chair. The change came after former chair Amber Lawrence was appointed Township Clerk, a role that made her ineligible to continue chairing the commission. Lawrence remains involved as the Township Board’s liaison to the Planning Commission.
Commission presses on two-LLC structure
A recurring point of commission scrutiny was the applicant’s request for a waiver allowing two separate limited liability companies, one for the 16.95-acre Swan component and one for the 22.27-acre Cygnet component, to each hold less than the acreage the township’s ordinance otherwise requires per project. Commissioner Joseph Weintraub questioned what evidence supported the idea that splitting the project across two entities serves the township’s health, safety, and general welfare, as required for such a waiver, rather than simply benefiting the applicant financially.
Applicant representative Steven Asti said the two-entity structure reflects separate regulatory submittals moving through parallel review processes, not a financial strategy, and that both entities are backed by the same parent company. He said each entity would carry its own decommissioning bond and community host agreement obligations, and that a substantial portion of host community payments would be available to the township early in the project.
Decommissioning financial assurance still being worked out
Commissioners also raised concerns that the applicant’s submitted decommissioning plan didn’t clearly reflect the township ordinance’s requirement that financial assurance be set at 125% of estimated decommissioning costs. The applicant clarified that the submitted plan document lays out cost estimates only, combined at roughly $22.5 million for both project phases, accounting for projected inflation over the life of the project, while the actual bond amount, roughly $28 million combined, would be formalized separately in a decommissioning agreement with the township as a condition of any approval. The applicant confirmed it intends to fully comply with the ordinance’s 125% requirement. Commissioners indicated they still want to discuss whether that assurance should take the form of a bond, a trust fund, or another mechanism, noting a preference for financial security options where the township has direct access to funds if needed.
A formal agreement is proposed for the recreational land
Beyond the roughly 40 acres needed for the battery facility itself, the applicant has proposed making the remaining acreage of just over 100 acres of the former golf course available to the township, either as preserved open space or for public recreational use. A draft memorandum of understanding submitted with the application would give the township one year from the date any permit is issued to decide which of those two paths it wants. If the township doesn’t decide within that year, the land would default to being held as open space for the life of the project rather than developed.
Should the township choose active recreational use, the draft memorandum calls for a separate, more detailed agreement covering liability, insurance, and buffer distances between any recreational area and the battery facility, among other terms. That follow-up agreement would need to be finalized before any public recreational use could begin.
Public comment remained focused on safety and transparency
Residents raised recurring concerns during two public comment periods, including the adequacy of decommissioning financial guarantees, site access and emergency response for fire crews, and questions about battery fire safety generally, citing past incidents involving battery storage that residents said they had seen reported in the news. Several residents also asked how the township would allocate additional revenue from the project and expressed disappointment at the loss of the Hickory Ridge golf course, which one commenter described as a long-standing community gathering place.
What’s next
No vote was taken on the special land use request, site plan, or battery energy ordinance provisions at this meeting. The Planning Commission is expected to continue deliberations at a future meeting.
