Escondido council directs staff to adopt county fire-code guidance, set workforce requirements and hold moratorium until cap study

The Escondido City Council on May 7 voted 5-0 to direct city staff to incorporate San Diego County guidance on battery energy storage systems into the city’s California Fire Code (CFC) update, to codify minimum workforce standards for projects above a 70-kilowatt-hour threshold, and to keep the current interim urgency moratorium in place until the council returns with recommended limits on the total number of projects.

Why it matters: the council’s direction sets a near-term regulatory path for commercial, utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) after an October 2024 on-site fire and public concern about safety. The action aims to allow staff to build enforceable local rules (through a CFC update) while retaining local pause authority until the city determines any local cap and final code text.

City staff framed the item as a report and request for direction. Veronica Moronis, the city planner, summarized prior council actions including adoption of an interim urgency ordinance in October 2024 and an extension via ordinance 2024-14R adopted November 20, 2024, and noted staff had researched existing regulatory frameworks, industry practices and San Diego County guidance. Moronis said the county document was intended to help jurisdictions meet the intent of section 1.10.2 of the California Fire Code and that staff recommended incorporating that guidance as part of Escondido’s routine CFC update.

Deputy Fire Marshal Lavonna Korecki told the council the county guidance contains placement and setback measures that vary by density and wildland interface, and that fire personnel recommend following the county’s guidance with eventual incorporation into the Escondido fire code.

Stakeholder testimony split between safety-focused labor and industry groups.…