More than 1,000 residents reportedly turn out to oppose JCP&L plan

Monmouth County residents turned out to a public hearing Wednesday night to oppose a plan by JCP&L to install power lines along a NJ Transit right-of-way.

MIDDLETOWN - More than 1,000 area residents reportedly came to Brookdale Community College's Collins Area Wednesday night to oppose Jersey Central Power & Light's plan to install towering power lines along a NJ Transit right-of-way between Aberdeen and Red Bank.

The JCP&L plan, dubbed the Monmouth County Reliability Plan, calls for the installation of a 230,000-volt line and tall poles ranging from 110 to 210 feet that would be placed every 500 feet between Aberdeen and Red Bank along NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line.

Representatives for the power company have said that the project is necessary to reduce the length and frequency of service disruptions in Monmouth County, and that it would have little impact on property values and "no impact on health."

The meeting Wednesday was the second public hearing in front of Administrative Law Judge Gail Cookson during which hundreds of residents turned out to voice objections to the project.

Cookson held the second hearing because hundreds of members of the public were turned away from the previous meeting after Middletown High School North reached its capacity under the fire code.

Much of the time during that hearing was also taken up by representatives from JCP&L, local and state politicians, community organizations, union representatives and environmental groups.

This left hundreds of concerned residents only a brief window at the end of the meeting in which to voice their opinions.

According to the Asbury Park Press, Cookson declared at the start of Wednesday night's meeting that there would be no presentations from the parties in the case, including JCP&L, and the time was reserved for residents.