Cheektowaga — The Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 17 heard a presentation on a proposed privatized battery energy storage facility at 3695 Broadway but voted to table the developer’s request for a use variance until the board’s January meeting.

Project attorney Peter Sorgi told the board the company seeks a use variance because battery storage is not defined or permitted in the town’s M‑1 Light Manufacturing district. "This is a battery energy storage systems project, the first one in the town," Sorgi said, adding the application is the procedural step that would allow later site‑plan review.

Gina Wolfman, senior director of development for AC Power, said the facility footprint would occupy roughly 1 acre of a 7‑acre parcel and that the design was revised to move the battery units at least 100 feet from property lines so the site qualifies as a "remote" storage system under New York law. She said the applicant has met with Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) staff because the site is within a Superfund area and that initial agency feedback has been "very supportive." "This is a, you know, several $100,000,000 project that will generate significant tax revenue to the town and the special district," Wolfman said.

Terry Simpson of ARM Group, the project’s engineering partner, summarized site changes including a fenced, landscaped layout, access drive, underground conduit to proposed utility poles and a preliminary sound study that the presenters said meets the town noise ordinance. The team told the board they have offered to provide training and, if needed, equipment to local fire districts and that they met with fire officials on Dec. 9 to discuss access and emergency procedures.

Board members asked for clearer documentation of which fire chiefs attended the Dec. 9 meeting and noted new information from the building department had arrived only days before the hearing. With two regular members absent or sick and additional material pending review, the chair moved to table the use‑variance request to the January meeting to allow members time to review submitted materials and for the applicant to convene follow‑up meetings with fire officials. The motion to table passed with the members present voting aye.

The applicant and its consultants said, if the variance is later granted, the project would proceed to site‑plan review by the planning board and town board, and would require standard permitting steps with DEC and utility interconnection approvals. The board will revisit the application at its January meeting.