Palo Alto utilities commission adopts $15.1 million wildfire mitigation plan, advances Foothills undergrounding

Palo Alto Utilities Advisory Commission voted unanimously to accept the citywildfire mitigation plan and direct staff to implement it and file the plan with the wildfire safety advisory board.

The plan, presented by Assistant Director of Electric Terry Crowley, lays out operational changes, vegetation management targets and a multi-million-dollar undergrounding project in the Foothills aimed at reducing the risk of utility-caused wildfires. "The intent of this plan is to mitigate wildfires that are caused by utilities," Crowley told the commission.

The nut graf: Commissioners were asked to approve an annual plan required by state wildfire rules and to authorize continued funding and implementation of Foothills undergrounding and other mitigation measures. Staff said the program is already underway and that the city has not caused a utility wildfire in recent years.

Key facts and how the plan matters: Crowley told the commission that the wildfire mitigation budget for the effort is projected at $15.1 million, largely dedicated to the Foothills undergrounding project; staff expect to expend roughly $11.6 million through the end of the fiscal year. The undergrounding project is roughly 80% complete, and staff said another segment of roughly 10,000 feet of new easement work is scheduled for construction this summer. Vegetation work reported included more than 8,000 trees trimmed in the high-fire-threat district during the past year.

Crowley outlined the planwhich must be updated and publicly posted annually under the post-2017 state wildfire lawcovering performance metrics (vegetation management, infrastructure inspections, outage counts), procedures for public notification during preemptive power shutoffs and operational changes such as disabling automatic reclosing where appropriate. "We do a lot of visual inspections, intrusive inspections and pole testing throughout the year," Crowley said, noting the work lowers exposure and helps identify equipment that should be replaced.

Commissioners asked about long-term costs, vegetation standards and whether undergrounding includes service all the way to meters in the Foothills. Crowley said the city has moved in recent weeks to underground service to the meter in the Foothills and to size underground capacity for future electrification demand. He also said some overhead infrastructure owned by other entities (PG&E, telecommunications) will remain overhead in the same areas and the city will still need limited vegetation work around pad-mounted equipment.

The commission approved the plan and directed staff to file it with the wildfire safety advisory board and to proceed with implementation. The motion was made and seconded during the meeting and passed on a 6-0 roll call.

What comes next: Staff said they will continue Foothills work this summer, finish cutovers and remove deenergized overhead lines where feasible, update policies tied to preemptive deenergization criteria, and review recent CAL FIRE local responsibility maps to identify additional mitigation priorities. Commissioners asked staff to consider formal membership or participation on the city's emergency services council to improve coordination; staff said they would take the request under consideration.

Ending: The approval keeps the city on track to complete the current phase of undergrounding and to meet the annual filing requirement; staff and commissioners said they will return with progress reports as milestones are reached.