Fed Up With Outages, Chappaqua Village Market Wants Generator

For Chappaqua Village Market, losing power during storms is hardly a rare mishap.

"[We've had] many, many power outages, yes," said Randy LeRoy, who works at the market.

In less than two years, the downtown food market has encountered outages from three major storms: Tropical Storm Irene, the October 2011 early snowstorm and Hurricane Sandy. LeRoy explained that the later left the store out for about 6-7 days and getting a financial loss.

Although the market was better prepared for Sandy than it was for Irene - LeRoy noted that inventory was moved to a friend with a cooler - patience with outages is wearing thin. The market now plans to have a generator installed, one that would turn on automatically if power fails.

"It will be enough to power the whole store," LeRoy said.

Aside from the generator providing a degree of resilience for the market, it will also provide a food option for people locally. LeRoy said that if the store remains open, then people who can cook - he noted it can be done even without power - will have a place to get food.

The generator, which would be installed on the lower King Street building's roof, requires New Castle's Planning Board to amend the property's site plan for it, according to the board's upcoming meeting agenda.

According to the market's planning submission, the model that would be added is a Generac QT150, measure 115"x54"x36" and have an electrical capacity of 150 kW. The generator's rooftop placement is intended to reduce its visual impact, the submission notes, and would have a mechanism intended to keep its noise low.

The Planning Board will hear the application on Tuesday night, with its meeting starting at 7 p.m. at New Castle Town Hall, according to the agenda.