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PG&E outlines vegetation program for Mill Valley, confirms right to access private property and announces May 15 open house
Summary
PG&E told the City Council it inspects distribution lines in Mill Valley, patrols high‑fire-threat lines twice yearly, and uses enhanced power safety settings to reduce ignitions. PG&E cited legal authority to access property for hazard mitigation and invited residents to a May 15 community open house to discuss local projects.
Pacific Gas and Electric presented its vegetation‑management program to the Mill Valley City Council, describing inspection cycles, clearance standards and outreach plans designed to reduce wildfire risk and limit public‑safety power shutoffs.
Mark Van Gorder, PG&E local government affairs, said hotter, drier and windier conditions increase ignition risk and that the company uses enhanced power‑safety settings that can de‑energize circuits in a tenth of a second to reduce ignitions. "It's getting hot, it's getting dry, and it's getting windy," he told the council, and the company is deploying both technology and vegetation work to reduce ignitions.
April Kennedy, PG&E senior manager for vegetation management, told the council PG&E inspects roughly 100,000 overhead line miles systemwide, trims about 1,500,000 trees annually across its service territory and patrols approximately 50 overhead distribution lines in Mill Valley; 30 of those lines are inside locally designated high‑fire‑threat zones and are inspected at least twice a year. PG&E also identified about 550 priority trees in the city's focus‑tree inventory and forecasted ~6,700 local trees for routine pruning or removal work this year.
On property access, PG&E told the council it is "legally required" to perform clearance work to comply with state and federal reliability and wildfire mitigation rules. Company representatives said they first attempt customer contact via robocalls, door knocks and door hangers, and that inspectors and internal safety teams oversee contractor work, but in some cases the company pursues legal avenues to gain access when property owners refuse work.
The council pressed PG&E on coordination, contractor oversight and notification. PG&E said about 50–60% of local inspectors are PG&E employees, it maintains an internal tree‑safety team to review contractor work in the field, and it follows an encroachment‑permit process with the city for work in public roadways. The company cited CPUC guidance and the Public Resources Code on clearance distances (regulatory minimums and higher values in certain situations).
PG&E announced a community open house scheduled for Thursday, May 15 from 6–8 p.m. at the community center where residents can speak with vegetation, gas and electric staff and see project displays and maps. Staff and councilmembers encouraged use of PG&E's customer reporting tools and coordinated outreach with city public‑works staff to notify residents in advance of larger removal projects.
No formal action was taken; the council thanked PG&E for the presentation and asked staff to coordinate further on public notification and a test case for a large removal project.
