Council Member Phil Wong announced that the battery energy storage system (BESS) that NineDot Energy planned to build on 69th Place in Middle Village will proceed with its construction, as permitted through “as-of-right” zoning law.
NineDot received community backlash once it began filing for permits for the facility last year, and Middle Village residents held three separate protests in opposition.
After an attempt to facilitate the purchase of the property from NineDot to a private landlord, the company sent a letter to Wong explaining why their experts believe properties included weren’t suitable replacements and would alter the initial purpose of the BESS in the area.
Wong and a coalition comprising of Rep. Grace Meng, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr., Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, the Juniper Park Civic Association, the Middle Village Chamber of Commerce and the United Federation of Teachers offered a joint statement:
“Our coalition is seriously disappointed with the decision by NineDot to move forward with this location. We engaged NineDot in good faith and supported what we believe was a reasonable alternative that would have addressed the concerns of residents while still allowing this type of infrastructure to move forward in a more appropriate location. Unfortunately, we do not believe the proposal was legitimately considered. From the beginning, our goal has been to work collaboratively and find a solution that balances energy needs with the safety and quality of life of the surrounding community. We stand with the residents of Middle Village, the Juniper Park Civic Association, the Middle Village Chamber of Commerce, and the many local stakeholders who have raised serious concerns about placing this facility at the currently proposed site.”
An alternative, or something else?
Wong proposed NineDot two separate locations to pursue the project on Feb. 19, as he and the other elected officials/community leaders protested the original site’s location, which is across the street from PS/IS 128. Both alternatives were 2 miles away from the initial plot of land, requiring a new interconnection request with Con Edison and included other difficulties in development that NineDot states isn’t suitable for a BESS.
“We spent the last few weeks reviewing [the] Council Member’s proposal for an alternative location, but determined this proposal was infeasible for the reasons detailed in the letter provided to him and other elected officials,” said a NineDot spokesperson. “It’s disappointing that Council Member Wong says he will fight against bringing more reliable, more affordable, and cleaner energy to Middle Village. Like every one of our battery energy storage sites, our Middle Village project will fully adhere to the FDNY’s best-in-the-nation BESS safety standards. We will continue working with CM Wong, the community and other elected officials to clarify misinformation about battery systems.”
According to NineDot’s letter, written by VP of Strategic Development Sam Brill, communication with Wong and then-Council Member Bob Holden has been minimal with the District 30 office expressed public opposition against the facility in March, 2025. Brill stated the company has “consistently communicated” its intent to follow through with the project, as recently as December. The properties were considered, but ultimately deemed “unworkable” by NineDot’s staff due to several reasons.
According to NineDot, the first alternative property, 46-46 Metropolitan Ave., exists within a floodplain and is in direct violation of FDNY policy that such facilities must be built 5 feet above “Base Flood Elevation.” The same property also requires additional approval due to existing in a “street widening” area, which means it overlaps with a mapped street of the City, and would need to be brought before “the Board of Standards and Appeals, pursuant to Section 35 of the General City Law.”
The second property, 56-41 56th Terrace, would require the demolition of six residential properties. Despite being zoned for manufacturing, the nearest residence is approximately 100 feet away, as opposed to 90 feet at the intended site. A bill Addabbo introduced to the Senate, which Wong publicly supported, requires BESS be built at least 300 feet away from residences, schools and farms. Though the owners of the property stated the nearby residences were mostly unoccupied, NineDot did not want to destroy potential housing amidst a housing crisis.
Both properties are over two miles away from the original 69th Place location. Con Ed instituted a policy in Sept. 2025 that requires projects, such as BESS, fund the construction of a new substation based on its connection point to the grid. A new interconnection request takes close to a year for approval and a new substation would take approximately 10 years to be finished; drastically impacting the timeframe.
In a responding letter, Wong denies that NineDot was forthcoming with intent to build the BESS to both him and his former boss. And any support of the project from nearby residents and past elected officials is false. Wong will continue to pursue other avenues to stop it’s construction on 69th Pl., including the Public Service Commission and other “entities responsible for oversight of energy infrastructure and related programs.”
“In the last two days, NineDot Energy has been circulating a letter to media outlets that contains serious inaccuracies about how this proposal came to light and how the community has responded,” said Wong. “This company’s tactics and PR smear campaign are frankly ridiculous. Instead of working honestly with the community, they are trying to rewrite the record. This coalition has made it clear that this is the wrong location for this type of facility.”
‘Dangerous and inflammatory’
The letter was also critical of statements made by Wong and Middle Village Residents Association (MVRA) President Paul Pogozelski, stating Pogozelski spread “dangerous and inflammatory misinformation” and made no “good faith” effort to meet with staff to discuss concerns. Pogozelski held the most recent protest, dubbing it the “Save Our Kids” rally, against the site’s placement and raised questions about it’s safety.
Most recently, Pogozelski shared a petition, started by CB5 Board Member Jessica Boiardi and now with nearly 500 signatures, against the BESS which contains and AI image of a facility about 10 times the size of NineDot’s plans and a factory polluting the area. Pogozelski denied meeting with NineDot staff in private and still insists a representative give a public presentation.
“It’s my whole job in this neighborhood is to give our kids a better neighborhood that they’re inheriting,” Pogozelski said, denying his remarks were inflammatory. “That also includes the kids that are going to the school or the families that are living across the street from that place.”
Pogozelski and the letter criticized Wong’s statement at the protest, saying that a BESS has the potential to “burn down neighborhoods” and likening it to the Chernobyl nuclear melt-down. Wong also stated BESS only became an issue after the City of Yes zoning changes in 2023.
According to FDNY Safety Expert Paul Rogers, a BESS fire has never left the perimeter of the facility itself. And while the City of Yes did supersede previous zoning laws around energy storage systems, NineDot clarified that the specific facility it’s building on 69th Place is also compliant with zoning law predating the 2023 City of Yes section on carbon neutrality, and shares near identical classification with one of its other BESS sites in Ozone Park that was built in 2019.
“Battery storage systems have been a proven safe delivery system for power in New York state that’s been vetted by the FDNY, who we all know and trust as a non-political entity that makes decisions in the only interest in the safety of New Yorkers,” said former Queens Council Member Costa Constantinides on the subject of both the BESS and legislation mandating placement. “And anything, any mischaracterization of these battery storage systems is questioning the judgment of a city agency that I would never question.”
Constantinides served as chair of the environmental committee and sponsored legislation to encourage more use of solar, wind, geothermal and biofuel after his bill on to reduce City carbon emissions 80% by 2050 passed unanimously in 2014.
Constantinides said he hopes communities expecting a new BESS focus on what types of jobs they will provide and find opportunities to “partner, educate and work together.”
“Start a dialogue earlier so that these conversations happen early. I think that there has to be an open mind on both sides to work together, to find solutions that are rooted in fact, not in misinformation, and that [communities] request of these companies a real partnership that can be beneficial to everyone involved.”
