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Commissioners debate undergrounding, oil‑well remediation and emergency access for Jefferson project
Summary
Commissioners and staff debated feasibility and timing of undergrounding existing utilities, safety measures near the BNSF tracks, and the process for confirming oil‑well abandonment; staff and the developer said some utility lines and poles cannot practically be undergrounded and that CalGEM certification and environmental documentation will be required before building permits.
A substantial portion of the Planning Commission’s discussion about the 440 North Jefferson project focused on whether existing overhead utilities should be undergrounded and how to ensure the site is safe for residential construction after decades of oil production. Staff and the project team explained technical and jurisdictional constraints that, they said, make full undergrounding infeasible for portions of the frontage.
Leslie Whitaker explained staff removed a specific CalGEM reference from one condition to clarify that the city’s Fire and Building departments set construction and safety requirements for vapor barriers and other measures. Civil engineer Dane McDougall and staff described the utility configuration: some transmission lines serving substations cannot be undergrounded by Southern California Edison and the presence of guy wires and connections across the railroad and channel mean removing poles would not eliminate visual or pedestrian obstructions. McDougall described the frontage as “an undergrounding nightmare” in operational terms and said certain poles lie off the property line and feed other city and Anaheim systems.
On oil remediation, staff said 12 wells on the site are being plugged and abandoned under CalGEM oversight and that the developer must submit documentation from a qualified environmental firm showing the site is clean before the city issues building permits. Fire and building officials will determine needed vapor‑mitigation measures on the basis of that environmental documentation. Commissioners asked additional questions about emergency response if a major incident occurred near the railroad; Fire representatives said the department maintains procedures to coordinate temporarily halting rail operations through BNSF dispatch in a serious emergency but could not give a guaranteed response time in minutes. The commission accepted revised condition language and found that, on balance, limited undergrounding of new utilities (and not wholesale removal of existing poles) was the practicable approach for this site.
