STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — For decades, Robert Colacino enjoyed the quiet of his Great Kills backyard, neighbored only by a doctor’s office and enveloped by at least 15 to 20 mature trees. But two years ago, developers demolished that office and leveled the trees. Now, his property abuts a battery energy storage system and is fenced in by a massive concrete wall.

“It’s an eyesore, just horrendous for a residential area,” Colacino said. “If you went to the corner of Nelson Avenue and Hylan Boulevard, where that Dunkin’ Donuts and the gas station are, you would swear it was a bunker in Beirut.”

Colacino, a retired FDNY firefighter, said the reality of living behind a battery energy storage system was tough to accept, but when the project’s developer erected three large perimeter walls around th

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