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Residents press council on safety and transparency as GCI seeks road access for battery storage project
Summary
At a public hearing, neighbors raised safety and process concerns about a proposed GCI battery-energy-storage project and a developer-funded road extension; city officials said the developer will cover construction costs and that planning-board conditions include a host-community agreement and a $1,000,000 payment to the city.
During a March 24 public hearing, residents asked the Dunkirk Common Council to delay road actions tied to a proposed battery energy storage project until the project receives final approvals and until more public meetings are held. Riva Bysinski, who lives within a block of the West 7th location, said she is “not comfortable” with battery storage next to homes and a dance studio and asked whether the city had explored using nearby National Grid property instead.
City Director DeJoy and developer counsel Daniel Brennan said the developer (Grid Connected Infrastructure / GCI) has site-plan approvals from planning boards, is seeking NYSERDA funding, and expects to enter a host-community agreement with pilot payments to taxing jurisdictions. DeJoy cited New York State real property tax law provisions discussed at planning review and said the planning board set a condition for the developer to provide at least $1,000,000 directly to the city as part of pilot payments. Brennan described the parcel as landlocked and said GCI will pay for construction, engineering and legal fees and ongoing maintenance under a road-development and maintenance agreement; he asked the council to authorize the mayor to negotiate details.
Neighbors pressed practical details: Peter Pankowski asked who would be responsible for building and maintaining the new road, whether the city would carry long-term maintenance costs and whether the battery facility had final regulatory approvals. Council and staff said the road would be a public road dedicated by the city but that GCI offered to fund construction and maintenance; staff added that the planning board approved a roughly 1,500-foot alignment and that the company redesigned plans to meet planning-board conditions.
The council closed the environmental-review public hearing and later adopted Resolution 32-2026 accepting environmental-review steps for opening and improving West 7th; it also introduced Walk-in Resolution 33-2026 to extend Park Avenue (Marsden–Newton) and voted to add that walk-in to the agenda so the council can consider a construction agreement and public follow-ups. The council set a public meeting (March 25 at 4:00 p.m.) where GCI will be present to answer resident questions.
