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Council members ask DCP for evidence on siting of battery storage near schools
Summary
Several council members pressed DCP on City of Yes zoning changes that expand battery energy storage systems (BESS) into more neighborhoods, asking whether DCP assessed risks of siting lithium-ion storage near schools and residential areas; DCP said oversight rests with FDNY and installation standards, and said it would follow up with technical details.
Council members raised safety and land-use concerns about expansions in allowable locations for battery energy storage systems (BESS) during a hearing on city planning priorities. Members said projects are being proposed near schools and residential neighborhoods and asked whether DCP had analyzed siting risks and how community review would take place.
Council Member Phil Wong said his district had a BESS project proposed adjacent to a school and asked how that occurred. Wong characterized the policy as a "one-size-fits-all" allowance and pressed DCP to explain how it concluded the sites pose "no risk" to sensitive uses such as schools.
DCP responded that BESS were included in the City of Yes reforms to support the city's carbon-neutrality goals and that such systems had been permitted historically in commercial and manufacturing zoning districts. The department said it evaluated BESS allowances across zoning districts and emphasized that FDNY oversees technical fire-safety rules for application review, installation and operation. "These systems require extensive oversight by the FDNY ... and there has been no fire incidents in the city of New York for the BESS," a DCP official said.
What was asked and what DCP said: Council members sought explicit, project-level safety analyses for installations adjacent to schools; DCP said it would provide further information and did not assert a blanket absence of risk. DCP officials said they would not facilitate or certify a facility they considered dangerous to a sensitive use.
Why it matters: Council members emphasized that expanding allowances for BESS into lower-density or residential areas raises community concern and trust questions even when agencies assert regulatory oversight exists. They asked for documentation of DCP's citywide review and for FDNY technical findings related to siting near sensitive receptors (schools, daycares).
Follow-up: DCP said it would return with more detailed analysis on how it evaluated BESS siting and what FDNY or other technical oversight steps are applied at permitting and installation.
