By Tina Traster

The Blackstone Group, the parent company of Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE), has offered the North Rockland Chamber of Commerce $1 million to compensate businesses who suffered financial hardship during the long and disruptive pipeline project along Route 9W in North Rockland, according to sources.

The money comes as a surprise after a business owner received a letter on April 14 that told North Rockland’s small businesses it had no further obligation to compensate them for losses suffered during construction.

The North Rockland Chamber, which has tirelessly championed the pipeline company for help, voted to accept the $1 million compensation package. In a letter dated March 17 sent to CHPE, businesses wrote that they’d endured a collective loss of $13 million.

Blackstone told Chamber members that this was its best and final offer, and the Chamber board on Wednesday voted to accept it.

The Chamber must “put $1 million in a fund, managed by an outside entity, but would need to determine what information each business would need to submit to apply by a deadline” of the Chamber’s choosing, according to Mike Lawler, who had arranged the negotiation between the Chamber and Blackstone in November.  “An independent accountant or auditor would review all the submissions and based on the totality of the submissions, would determine how to distribute the funds to the small businesses.”

Businesses that apply for funds, according to Lawler, would forego any right to bring litigation against the companies.

CHPE LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of TDI-USA Holdings LLC a/k/a Transmission Developers, Inc. (TDI), a development company owned by the Blackstone Group.

“I believe it’s exactly the power of a small group of people that can make big changes,” said Mari Morrison Rodriguez, a Chamber board member. “The work of the chamber made this happen. Nobody was fighting for the businesses the way we were.”

Rockland Community Foundation will hold the funds. The Chamber will create a program for eligible businesses to apply for grants.

Since last August, the Chamber worked with public officials to hold press conferences and meetings, hoping to put pressure on CHPE to step up with a big check. At the time, CHPE offered $100,000 to the Chamber to aid businesses, and later increased the offer to $150,000. But more than 40 businesses maintain they were negatively impacted by the work, which kept patrons away from Route 9W, and some have since shuttered their doors.

Businesses were impacted and nine had closed, since work began, due to prolonged access disruption, reduced visibility, traffic pattern changes, and sustained declines in customer activity during critical revenue periods.

Last November, Chamber members met with CHPE and a Blackstone representative, Kristen Nevins, senior managing director of government relations, who told the group the company would “take a look” at the financial losses racked up by area businesses, and offer feedback sometime after the Thanksgiving holiday. No promises were made, though that was the first time the North Rockland Chamber of Commerce and local officials had face-to-face discussion with Blackstone Group.

As of mid-April, the Chamber has not heard any feedback from Blackstone, even though they’ve sent emails and made phone calls trying to follow up on the meeting. Lawler’s office has also been called multiple times for feedback, but Chamber members say they’ve heard nothing but “we’re still negotiating.”

Lawler said at the time, “I have had numerous meetings with Blackstone to address the negative impacts on our local businesses and have another meeting scheduled this week.”

CHPE has long maintained that the towns were compensated for the construction upheaval. Prior to construction, CHPE secured agreements with affected towns and villages to utilize the rights-of-way owned by municipalities, but not all the monies have been paid out to the towns. The Town of Haverstraw got $6.8 million for a Community Fund; the Village of Haverstraw, $3.5 million for a Community Fund, and $3.85 million for a Streetscape Fund; the Village of West Haverstraw got $2.5 million for a Community Fund and $2.23 million for a Streetscape Fund; and the Town Clarkstown scored $3.9 million for a Community Fund. The Town of Stony Point is slated to receive $5.3 million for capital improvements, with $2.9 million for road improvements once the project is completed.

Additionally, CHPE paid local property owners over $5 million for temporary and permanent easements on their properties. But the businesses say they have not and will not benefit directly from these funds.