LADWP DS 104 Task Force - Public Workshop Summary
January 15, 2013
Last night the LADWP held a public workshop at the Palisades Charter High School gymnasium from 7:00 to 9:00. LADWP staff and members of the DS-104 Task Force were on hand to answer residents questions regarding candidate sites selected for further evaluation. Also on hand were Ron Nichols, General Manager of LADWP, LAUSD Board Member Steve Zimmer and Norman Kulla, Northern District Director and Senior Counsel for CD-11 Councilmember Bill Rosendahl.
Attendees were invited to view presentations regarding a number of topics which were staffed by LADWP staff:
Information about the Load Center and the Purpose and Need for DS-104
Benefits of a New Distributing Station
LADWP Power System Overview
Ideal Site Criteria
Sustainability
Existing Distributing Stations
Geology of Pacific Palisades
Next Steps in the DS-104 Development Process (which include)
Environmental Review (18 Months)
Design (18 Months)
Construction (24 Months)
Commissioning (6 Months)
In addition, Task Force members were available to provide information about:
Task Force Preferred Sites
Other Sites Considered
The final four sites selected to be in the Tier 1 Preferred Sites are:
Site #3 - 16931 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Site #4 - 16970 & 16948 Sunset Blvd. & 125 N. Marquez Place
Site #10 - 300 Via Nicholas
Site #15 - 370 N. Paseo Miramar
The workshop was well attended with many community members actively engaged in learning more about the details of the site selection process. General Manager Nichols spoke briefly about the process along with Mr. Zimmer and Mr. Kulla.
Community members were provided a flyer that summarized each of the four Tier 1 sites and were encouraged to submit any comments about any of the Tier 1 sites or any other comments they wished for the Task Force members to hear. All community comments will be reviewed by the Task Force at its next meeting.
I have requested copies of the presentation materials and will upload them when they are made available.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Friday, December 14, 2012
LADWP DS 104 Task Force Meeting #7 Summary
LADWP DS 104 Task Force Meeting #7 Summary
Wednesday 12/12/2012
Report by Jim Rea, Task Force Member
The comments on this meeting will be limited.
The Task Force met and did finalize the placement of the sites into Tiers 1, 2 and 3. Given an overwhelming desire by the members of the Task Force to not interrupt the spirit of the holidays, it was agreed that any reports regarding the specifics of sites assigned to any of the Tiers would be embargoed until after the end of the year. At that time, LADWP will issue an announcement in the Palisadian Post regarding the placement of sites into the Tiers.
A public workshop will be held on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Palisades Charter High School. Members of the Task Force and LADWP staff will be on hand to answer questions regarding the selections and to solicit feedback from the community regarding their preferred sites. All interested members of the community are encouraged to attend.
The members of the Task Force wish everyone in the Pacific Palisades community a happy holiday season and we look forward to continuing our process in the new year.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
LADWP DS 104 Task Force Meeting #6 Summary
LADWP DS 104 Task Force Meeting #6 Summary
Thursday 11/28/2012
Report by Jim Rea, Task Force Member
My apologies for the delay in getting these notes published, but I left town immediately after the last meeting and am just getting dug out from an overloaded inbox.
There was little to report from this latest Task Force meeting. We reviewed the last seven sites under consideration. Several of the sites were very similar to sites that we have already reviewed.
We next began the process of placing sites in Tiers I, II and III. To recap, Tier I is for the four most preferred sites, Tier II is for four sites to serve as backups to the Tier I sites in the event they are eliminated during the CEQA process and Tier III is for sites that either have minimal feasibility or minimal support within the community.
We will go through a series of votes to place sites into the tiers until a consensus can be developed. It is not clear how long this will take, but given the ability to register multiple votes per meeting, it is expected that the process will be completed during the next one or two meetings.
In the meantime, given that the Tiering is a "work in progress", the members of the Task Force have agreed not to discuss the interim results of the Tiering votes until the Tiering exercise has been completed.
The handout materials for the meeting are available for download at:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwkQFPaAN4zwR3VZSEhSTlhNWU0
Thursday 11/28/2012
Report by Jim Rea, Task Force Member
My apologies for the delay in getting these notes published, but I left town immediately after the last meeting and am just getting dug out from an overloaded inbox.
There was little to report from this latest Task Force meeting. We reviewed the last seven sites under consideration. Several of the sites were very similar to sites that we have already reviewed.
We next began the process of placing sites in Tiers I, II and III. To recap, Tier I is for the four most preferred sites, Tier II is for four sites to serve as backups to the Tier I sites in the event they are eliminated during the CEQA process and Tier III is for sites that either have minimal feasibility or minimal support within the community.
We will go through a series of votes to place sites into the tiers until a consensus can be developed. It is not clear how long this will take, but given the ability to register multiple votes per meeting, it is expected that the process will be completed during the next one or two meetings.
In the meantime, given that the Tiering is a "work in progress", the members of the Task Force have agreed not to discuss the interim results of the Tiering votes until the Tiering exercise has been completed.
The handout materials for the meeting are available for download at:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwkQFPaAN4zwR3VZSEhSTlhNWU0
Saturday, November 17, 2012
DWP Task Force Meeting #5 Summary
LADWP DS 104 Task Force Meeting
Wednesday 11/14/2012
Report by Jim Rea, Task Force Member
This will be a short report since the first hour of this week’s Task Force meeting was devoted to discussion of planning of activities for the next several meetings in preparation for the public workshop to be held in January.
The agenda today calls for detail evaluation of 4 additional sites. The next meeting will be devoted to detail evaluation of the 7 remaining sites. After the detail evalualtion of all 15 sites has been completed the Task Force will begin the process assigning the 4 most preferred sites to Tier 1 along with 4 backup sites to be assigned to Tier 2. The remaining sites which are the least desirable will be assigned to Tier 3.
After the tiering exercises are completed, the LADWP staff and Task Force members will work on presentation materials for the upcoming public workshop. The time and location of the public workshop has not been finalized but it is anticipated that it will take place in the second week in January.
The public workshop will feature a condensed presentation of much of the information that has been presented to members of the Task Force in recent weeks. This will include:
The Purpose and Need for DS 104
Existing Distribution Stations
The Geology of Pacific Palisades
Information About All 15 Candidate Sites
The Preferred Sites
The Task Force next reviewed details for Site 5 on Sunset Blvd. at Marquez, Site 13 at the end of Via Santa Ynez, Site 14 in the Marquez Canyon below the Marquez Elementary Charter School and Site 15 on Paseo Miramar adjacent to Via Nicholas. The details for each location are included in the meeting handout which is attached.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 28th.
The meeting handouts may be downloaded from the following link:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwkQFPaAN4zwa1FlLXpQaU1VcDg
Wednesday 11/14/2012
Report by Jim Rea, Task Force Member
This will be a short report since the first hour of this week’s Task Force meeting was devoted to discussion of planning of activities for the next several meetings in preparation for the public workshop to be held in January.
The agenda today calls for detail evaluation of 4 additional sites. The next meeting will be devoted to detail evaluation of the 7 remaining sites. After the detail evalualtion of all 15 sites has been completed the Task Force will begin the process assigning the 4 most preferred sites to Tier 1 along with 4 backup sites to be assigned to Tier 2. The remaining sites which are the least desirable will be assigned to Tier 3.
After the tiering exercises are completed, the LADWP staff and Task Force members will work on presentation materials for the upcoming public workshop. The time and location of the public workshop has not been finalized but it is anticipated that it will take place in the second week in January.
The public workshop will feature a condensed presentation of much of the information that has been presented to members of the Task Force in recent weeks. This will include:
The Purpose and Need for DS 104
Existing Distribution Stations
The Geology of Pacific Palisades
Information About All 15 Candidate Sites
The Preferred Sites
The Task Force next reviewed details for Site 5 on Sunset Blvd. at Marquez, Site 13 at the end of Via Santa Ynez, Site 14 in the Marquez Canyon below the Marquez Elementary Charter School and Site 15 on Paseo Miramar adjacent to Via Nicholas. The details for each location are included in the meeting handout which is attached.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 28th.
The meeting handouts may be downloaded from the following link:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwkQFPaAN4zwa1FlLXpQaU1VcDg
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
DWP Task Force Meeting #4 Summary
LADWP DS 104 Task Force Meeting
Tuesday 10/30/2012
Report by Jim Rea, Task Force Member
Task Force meeting opened with a request from the facilitator for additional suggestions of sites for consideration.
Gil Dembo mentioned a site at the foot of Bienveneda that has long been offered for sale. A large host of comments came from several members of the Task Force, including that it is subject to large liabilites, it has geological issues (what site doesn’t), used to be a haul dump site, has a history of many slope failures, it is a riperian area, meaning there is flowing water on the site. There was little or no interest from the Task Force in securing additional information about the site.
The facilitor noted that as we get further into the process, we will find it necessary to stop accepting ideas for new properties soon. So if there are any properties needing to come into the discussion, they should be submitted as soon as possible.
We discussed the presentation of sites at the public workshop. Initial materials had only mentioned that Tier 1 sites will be presented to the public. Given concerns from the community that all sites (Tier 1, 2 and 3) should be presented at the workshop, it was agreed that there was no problem in presenting all three Tiers to the attendees. The emphasis in the public workshop will continue to be on the Tier 1 sites, though the public is free to comment on any of the sites.
Some questions were raised about safety at distribution stations around the city. Questions were raised as to whether there were explosions or major fires at any of the 120 distribution stations around the LADWP service area. DWP staff (Eric Hartman) reported that he does not recall any explosions in the past. There have been occasional minor fires as insulation or equipment wears out or overheating of conduit or cable, that can lead to arcing. All of the fires he is aware of are minor in nature. He did report that there have been larger fires at large receiving stations, but they operate at much higher electrical loads with much larger transformers than do distribution stations.
DWP Geologist Jim Chestnut gave a presentation on geological issues and means of mitigation at construction sites. The discussion picked up with the concerns about safety from earthquake damage. Distribution stations are built to the same standard of safety as are schools and hospitals, which is the highest level of safety as mandated by law. All distribution station equipment is tested on shake tables to the maximum ground shaking levels expected in the Southern California area.
Next he discussed the seismic hazard and liquefaction areas in the DS 104 target area of the Palisades. Basically all of the sites will have one form of seismic issue or another. They are a common problem for the DWP and there are reliable mitigation measures that can be applied to address most issues. One thing that slows down the process in the Palisades is the fact that this area was never surveyed for Alquist-Priolo Active Fault maps. Thus, each property under final consideration will have to be investigated to to determine to what extent, if any, active faults exist on the site.
He spoke about the typical mitigation techniques, including setbacks from faults and slopes, use of caissons to create deep foundations, use of retaining walls and debris walls, ground improvement and buttress fill techniques.
The next presentation came from DWP Manager of Environmental Assessment Chuck Holloway about Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF). He explained what EMF is and described some of the common sources of EMF. He showed comparison of EMF from power systems with other sources of electromagnetic radiation including radio, TV, microwaves, ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays, demonstrating that powerline EMF operates at the very lowest end of the frequency spectrum. Of the two components of EMF, electric fields and magnetic fields, magnetic fields are more of an issue. Electric fields can be easily shielded. Magnetic fields are more difficult to shield.
He spoke about health concerns in the late 1970’s and revealed that there was never conclusive evidence of causation of health issues with individuals. HIs conclusion was that after 25,000 studies over 30 years, “there is not a strong enough case of cause-and-effect for scientists to conclude tht long term exposure to weak electromagnetic fields is harmful. If there is a risk it is very small”
We had a side discussion with Bill Piazza from LAUSD regarding the practical standards they maintain when situating a school near a distribution station. He said that the state has a standard of 500 feet for facilities with 50 Mv. capacity or more, however distribution stations do not fall under that standard since they operate at 34.5 Mv. He said that ordinarily, when a facility is situated near a power intensive facility they will have a member of the school staff wear a measurement device over a period of several days to determine what the ambient EMF is in the area. Anything over 2 or 3 mG ( .001 Gauss) is cause for investigation.
Contrasting that in Holloway’s presentation, he showed measurements of 3 mG or less beginning at 20 ft. or more from the exterior walls DS-66. He also showed a chart of common household appliances with mG measurements ranging from 5 to 250 mG at a distance of one foot.
There were so many lengthy and detailed side discussions during the course of the evening that the Task Force was unable to get to the detailed evaluation of the next four candidate properties. So this portion of the agenda was deferred to the next meeting.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 14, 2012.
The meeting handouts may be downloaded from the following link:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwkQFPaAN4zwT1A2eVZ6NlJBd28
Tuesday 10/30/2012
Report by Jim Rea, Task Force Member
Task Force meeting opened with a request from the facilitator for additional suggestions of sites for consideration.
Gil Dembo mentioned a site at the foot of Bienveneda that has long been offered for sale. A large host of comments came from several members of the Task Force, including that it is subject to large liabilites, it has geological issues (what site doesn’t), used to be a haul dump site, has a history of many slope failures, it is a riperian area, meaning there is flowing water on the site. There was little or no interest from the Task Force in securing additional information about the site.
The facilitor noted that as we get further into the process, we will find it necessary to stop accepting ideas for new properties soon. So if there are any properties needing to come into the discussion, they should be submitted as soon as possible.
We discussed the presentation of sites at the public workshop. Initial materials had only mentioned that Tier 1 sites will be presented to the public. Given concerns from the community that all sites (Tier 1, 2 and 3) should be presented at the workshop, it was agreed that there was no problem in presenting all three Tiers to the attendees. The emphasis in the public workshop will continue to be on the Tier 1 sites, though the public is free to comment on any of the sites.
Some questions were raised about safety at distribution stations around the city. Questions were raised as to whether there were explosions or major fires at any of the 120 distribution stations around the LADWP service area. DWP staff (Eric Hartman) reported that he does not recall any explosions in the past. There have been occasional minor fires as insulation or equipment wears out or overheating of conduit or cable, that can lead to arcing. All of the fires he is aware of are minor in nature. He did report that there have been larger fires at large receiving stations, but they operate at much higher electrical loads with much larger transformers than do distribution stations.
DWP Geologist Jim Chestnut gave a presentation on geological issues and means of mitigation at construction sites. The discussion picked up with the concerns about safety from earthquake damage. Distribution stations are built to the same standard of safety as are schools and hospitals, which is the highest level of safety as mandated by law. All distribution station equipment is tested on shake tables to the maximum ground shaking levels expected in the Southern California area.
Next he discussed the seismic hazard and liquefaction areas in the DS 104 target area of the Palisades. Basically all of the sites will have one form of seismic issue or another. They are a common problem for the DWP and there are reliable mitigation measures that can be applied to address most issues. One thing that slows down the process in the Palisades is the fact that this area was never surveyed for Alquist-Priolo Active Fault maps. Thus, each property under final consideration will have to be investigated to to determine to what extent, if any, active faults exist on the site.
He spoke about the typical mitigation techniques, including setbacks from faults and slopes, use of caissons to create deep foundations, use of retaining walls and debris walls, ground improvement and buttress fill techniques.
The next presentation came from DWP Manager of Environmental Assessment Chuck Holloway about Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF). He explained what EMF is and described some of the common sources of EMF. He showed comparison of EMF from power systems with other sources of electromagnetic radiation including radio, TV, microwaves, ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays, demonstrating that powerline EMF operates at the very lowest end of the frequency spectrum. Of the two components of EMF, electric fields and magnetic fields, magnetic fields are more of an issue. Electric fields can be easily shielded. Magnetic fields are more difficult to shield.
He spoke about health concerns in the late 1970’s and revealed that there was never conclusive evidence of causation of health issues with individuals. HIs conclusion was that after 25,000 studies over 30 years, “there is not a strong enough case of cause-and-effect for scientists to conclude tht long term exposure to weak electromagnetic fields is harmful. If there is a risk it is very small”
We had a side discussion with Bill Piazza from LAUSD regarding the practical standards they maintain when situating a school near a distribution station. He said that the state has a standard of 500 feet for facilities with 50 Mv. capacity or more, however distribution stations do not fall under that standard since they operate at 34.5 Mv. He said that ordinarily, when a facility is situated near a power intensive facility they will have a member of the school staff wear a measurement device over a period of several days to determine what the ambient EMF is in the area. Anything over 2 or 3 mG ( .001 Gauss) is cause for investigation.
Contrasting that in Holloway’s presentation, he showed measurements of 3 mG or less beginning at 20 ft. or more from the exterior walls DS-66. He also showed a chart of common household appliances with mG measurements ranging from 5 to 250 mG at a distance of one foot.
There were so many lengthy and detailed side discussions during the course of the evening that the Task Force was unable to get to the detailed evaluation of the next four candidate properties. So this portion of the agenda was deferred to the next meeting.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 14, 2012.
The meeting handouts may be downloaded from the following link:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwkQFPaAN4zwT1A2eVZ6NlJBd28
Friday, October 26, 2012
LADWP Posts DS 104 Task Force Materials Online
The LADWP has posted the meeting mintutes and handout materials from the first two meetings online at the following web address. Check here for future updates on this information.
https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/aboutus/a-power/a-p-projects/a-p-p-distributingstation?_adf.ctrl-state=vps2u6yxs_4&_afrLoop=776160952183532
https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/aboutus/a-power/a-p-projects/a-p-p-distributingstation?_adf.ctrl-state=vps2u6yxs_4&_afrLoop=776160952183532
CERT - Community Awareness Response Training
At the 10/26 PPCC meeting last night we had a presentation from Captain Christopher Cooper and Firefighter Susan Jensen regarding community emergency response and CERT Training, which stands for Community Emergency Response Team.
CERT trains local individuals to be able to assist in the response to community emergencies such as earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters until emergency agency personnel such as fire and police are able to arrive. It is expected that in the case of widespread community emergencies, it may take as long a seven days for emergency personnel to make it to a particular site. Thus, it is extremely important that individuals in the community take the initiative and complete the 17 1/2 hour CERT Training program.
For more information, please go to http://www.cert-la.com.
CERT trains local individuals to be able to assist in the response to community emergencies such as earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters until emergency agency personnel such as fire and police are able to arrive. It is expected that in the case of widespread community emergencies, it may take as long a seven days for emergency personnel to make it to a particular site. Thus, it is extremely important that individuals in the community take the initiative and complete the 17 1/2 hour CERT Training program.
For more information, please go to http://www.cert-la.com.
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