(As published in the Butterfield Stageline)
My goal for this monthly column has always been twofold: a) to connect you into our community through volunteerism/knowledge b) government should not be complicated. These short news briefs and my personal meanderings are meant for a quick read without the details. I love chatting with you at our local stores about a past article and answering questions about our city. Please don't be afraid to stop me and ask those questions. That's why you have elected me these past years...to keep open the lines of communication.
Because I am older and our sons are older (It's remarkable the wife has not aged), our holiday season looked much different this year. With son Brett in Iraq (only 13 more months to go!), son Kyle going to Hawaii to visit with his new in-laws (he also received a new position with Northrup Grumman and will now work in San Bernardino instead of Palmdale. He never fell in love with Palmdale... hmmm), that left son Jarad at home with us. Denise and I decided to visit my sister in Montana and go skiing. We were pleasantly surprised when Jarad decided to come along and even more surprised when the "black sheep" of our family, nephew Jason, asked to come along too. Both young men had tremendous trouble (It appears the next generation will have to step up) keeping up with the "old man" on the slopes. I love building those family memories. Here is what's happening.
1) The Shoppes is still scheduled for a late May/early June opening. A parking garage will be construed to handle 419 cars. The Government Center is going up now and will probably not be done until November, although the Sheriff's building will be done beforehand so we can get our department off the McCoy site.
2) I know of at least 64 men and women serving our country because of our Military Banner Program. I hope the program is adjusted so more arterial streets will have some banners.
3) If you frequent the Peyton Drive corridor from Chino Hills Parkway to Grand, you will want to subscribe to the city's e-notify list to tell you when street lanes are being closed or reduced. Here's the address to add your name: http://www.chinohills.org/list.asp and scroll down to Peyton Corridor.
4) For those of you that want to monitor my various committee assignments each year, here they are: Big League Dreams Sports Park, Chino Basin De-Salter Board, Government Center Ad-hoc, Water Facilities Authority, Water Supply Reduction Program Ad-hoc, CVUSD Joint City-School, CVUSD Boundary, IEUA Policy, and League of Cities Inland Empire Division. The rest of the council has their particular assignments too. I am moving into the "water policy" areas and that is fine with me.
5) You have read about the two coyote attacks in town and residents noticing more frequent sightings of coyotes. Since the October and December attacks, 16 coyotes have been removed by the Humane Society.
6) Did you and the kids get to "Snow Day 2008"? Over 80 tons of snow was made and over 1,800 participants showed up. Next year, more ramps!
7) Crossroads Park has 10 new workout stations installed to replace the old wooden structures.
8) There is no greater issue in Chino Hills more than the proposed alignment of 200-foot tall electrical towers running through our community. I, along with 3 other council members, traveled to Brea for a "Scoping Meeting" held by the California Public Utilities Commission. I was happy to see several hundred residents in attendance too.
As I have written about before, we have hired great consultants to help us find a solution before it destroys our community. Here is an abridged text of our consultants' excellent presentation to the PUC:
"Chino Hills began exploring alternatives because the proposed alignment in the SCE application would cut right through the middle of Chino Hills, next to 1000 homes as well as parks and schools. There is an existing right of way, but it has not been energized for decades, and is not adequate for the safe sitting of a very tall 500 kV transmission line. There is no other line of that high voltage in California within a 150' Right of Way. All recent 500 kV lines in California have been approved with ROW of at least 200 feet when crossing private property, as opposed to public open space. In addition, there have been several instances of 500 kV towers failing and collapsing in recent years, and the City's view is that the hazard to a residential community so close to such a line is far too great.
Seeking to be constructive, Chino Hills worked with the CPUC and with SCE, who have been very helpful, to explore other options. The first, called Alt. A, as you have heard connected the new 500 kV line with an existing 500 kV line at the nearest available point, which happened to be inside Chino Hills State Park, saving over 15 miles of transmission line that would otherwise have been constructed through Chino Hills and other cities to the east. This is a very efficient proposal, from a transmission planning point of view. However, we knew there would be concerns about the impact on the park, and as soon as we could arrange a meeting, we went to the State Park Department. and explained the proposal in order to get their reaction. They indicated that they had significant concerns about new transmission lines in the park, particularly the inclusion a switching station that would take up several acres.
We were encouraged by the CPUC to continue to be creative about finding other mutually acceptable alternatives. Chino Hills again worked with SCE to explore other options. The City believes one proposal, Revised Alt C, will satisfy all the various interests concerned about the transmission line, the City and the Park environment. Revised Alt. C is based on the same notion of connecting the new 500 kV line to the existing one without having to build 15 more miles of transmission through Chino Hills and on to Ontario. But it does three important things very differently.
1. It places the switching station outside the park on private property, ending the need to encroach on several acres of additional parkland.
2. It reroutes the existing 500 kV line within the park to take it completely outside the sensitive Water Canyon Preserve, and would result in the removal of all the transmission lines in the Preserve. After connecting to the switching station, the line dips back into the park and connects with the remainder of the existing line.
3. As further mitigation, the proposal would remove the existing 220kV transmission line from the park west of the switching station. That line would join up with the station outside of the park, and east of the station it would also dip back into the park and rejoin the existing 220 kV line.
The net result is a reduction in the total miles of transmission line in the park, a reduction in the number of transmission towers in the park, and a reduction in the total acreage of right of way committed to transmission lines in the park. These benefits are completely consistent with the General Plan for the park, which calls for the consolidation of utility rights of way and the reduction of utility infrastructure in the park. In addition, the rerouting of the towers for the existing lines allow us to take them off the ridge tops where they are so visible, and to move them to side hill locations where they are far less visible from inside or outside the park.
Our experts also tell us that this shorter line will be less expensive to build, resulting in savings of tens of millions of dollars in the construction process. During the development of the EIR for this project, if mitigation measures are proposed to further reduce any negative impact on the park, it is feasible for the CPUC to require that such savings can be used to offset the costs of such mitigation.
Revised Alt. C would result in a configuration of utility facilities which is clearly better for the park than the existing situation. Why? Chino Hills State Park would be less impacted by transmission lines, and all the existing transmission lines would be removed from the most sensitive areas of the park, and the park could receive financing for other enhancements through the EIR mitigation process. In addition, Southern California would be able to access enough wind powered energy to replace four nuclear power plants, the citizens of Chino Hills would not have to face a series of mammoth transmission towers in an undersized right of way towering over their backyards, and the ratepayers of Southern California Edison would pay less for the transmission line because it's 15 miles shorter. Chino Hills believes that this is a true win-win-win situation, and urges all of the individuals and organizations here tonight to join us in seriously studying the details of this option in order to make it as beneficial as possible."
As of this writing, no answer yet on what the CPUC will do. We need them to approve an EIR for Alt. C as a first step.
Councilmember Ed
H) (909) 597-0535
and is not a part of nor affiliated with the City of Chino Hills.