Board hears seismic, permitting constraints for proposed Ventura High solar project

The Ventura Unified School District Board of Education on July 9 heard a detailed conference presentation from NG Services about proposed solar installations at Ventura High School and the technical and community trade‑offs involved.

NG Services project manager Kevin Watson told the board the original design fell within a mapped earthquake fault zone and that two prior fault‑trench investigations at Ventura High School showed evidence of fault traces. “We found in two reports that were done at Ventura High School where they did the fault trench investigations they found evidence of fault traces,” Watson said, and the firm advised the district that a new trench investigation for the current design would be costly and might still not guarantee permitting approval. NG estimated the trench investigation would cost “around about $300,000.”

NG described three primary constraints that shaped the design: preserving the campus’s historic aesthetic and nearby sight lines, very limited available space for canopies, and the practical difficulties and long delays associated with rooftop work and Division of the State Architect (DSA) review. Watson said rooftop arrays were not pursued because there was insufficient rooftop area, many buildings would require structural upgrades, and DSA permitting often causes significant setbacks that could jeopardize the district’s ability to secure favorable net‑metering under the 2026 tariff.

To avoid an expensive trench investigation and lengthy rooftop permitting, NG proposed two revised layouts that shift generation away from the mapped fault trace: placing one canopy in the main courtyard and adding a lower‑profile ground‑mounted array north of the stadium, or reducing the ground‑mount footprint and adding a canopy adjacent to the softball field. NG emphasized it was trying to preserve the system’s total kilowatt capacity and not reduce the site by more than about 20 percent, because stepping below that threshold could push the campus from Net Metering 2.0 into Net Metering 3.0 with reduced financial benefit.

Board members asked detailed questions about parking impacts, including loss of spaces near the stadium and impacts to disabled parking that serves stadium access. Several trustees asked whether a nearby hillside, the southwest front of the campus, or staff parking along Main Street could accommodate arrays; NG and staff explained slope, baseball safety (panels near home‑run trajectories), utility pole easements, and building setbacks limited those options. NG noted ground‑mounted arrays are typically fenced for safety and sit lower to the ground, while canopy structures provide higher clearance and usable shaded space under them.

District staff and NG also flagged schedule risk: electrical equipment lead times are long, with switchgear and panel boards often taking one to two years, and a rooftop DSA approval could add at least nine months. Staff said NG could produce rough alternative layouts within a week and more refined options within a few weeks, while full rooftop engineering would take months.

The board did not take action; the item was presented as a conference discussion. Staff said they would continue to evaluate alternatives, consider community feedback and site staff input, and return with additional design options and feasibility information.

Quote attribution: Kevin Watson, NG Services project manager, and NG Services project director Sheir Inman Daniels, spoke for the vendor team; district staff (identified in the meeting as Dr mza and others) led the item for the district and answered board questions.