Due to problems with the city website, the council will consider an appeal of the Hellman Ranch Oil and Gas Production facility solar panel project later this month. The public hearing, originally scheduled for Monday, Feb. 9, was continued until Feb. 23.
The council on Feb. 9 voted unanimously to continue the hearing.
The problem
The city’s website went down on Friday, Feb. 6. On Monday, Feb. 9, the Wetlands Trust received an email from the city informing them of the problems with the website and informing the trust that the hearing would be continued.
The city sent an email to the Sun, which was received after closing hours, that the website was down.
In an email to subscribers, the Wetlands Trust incorrectly reported that the meeting had been canceled.
The trust quoted from a city email:
“We will be continuing the Hellman Solar appeal to the next council meeting – February 23, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. Our website was down all weekend, which may have prevented people from accessing the staff report and relevant documents. We did maintain everything up on our police department’s website, but in an effort to be careful and in case not everyone was aware of that posting, we will be continuing the item to the next council meeting so that we can have the minimum 72 hours online posting complied with. I will send an email to everyone who has emailed me directly on this item; however, if you could let anyone who planned on attending tonight know, so they are aware of the scheduling change, that would be much appreciated.”
In an afternoon email on Feb. 9, City Clerk Gloria Harper confirmed that the solar panel hearing would continue to later this month.
When the city website went down, the council agenda and agenda package were made available to the public on the Seal Beach Police Department website. On Monday night, City Manager Patrick Gallegos told the council that the public was notified by social media and the city newsletter.
He said the hearing would be continued to ensure that the public has time to review the staff report.
Even though the hearing was continued to the next meeting, members of the public were allowed to comment. Only one person did.
Hearing comment
Originally, the hearing was scheduled at the end of the meeting. This week, however, the revised agenda put the public hearing near the start of the meeting.
Ken Scythe, of College Park West, said there was a two-page technical document about the smaller proposal for the project. He was apparently referring to a reduction in the size of the solar panel project. Scythe said it would be important to get more details on the “slimmed down” project.
No one else spoke.
Background
The appeal hearing was held over from late 2025.
The original project was to build 56 solar table structures on the property, located near the Los Cerritos Wetlands.
According to the Feb. 9 staff report, the project has been reduced “to remove approximately one-third of the solar tables”. The staff report did not specify the number of solar panel tables that remain in the project.
The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the solar panel project on Sept. 29, 2025, according to the staff report by Interim Community Development Director Shaun Temple.
Planners considered a minor use permit to allow the project, as well as an initial study/negative declaration.
(Note: A Mitigated Negative Declaration means the city officially determines that the environmental impact of a project can be minimized if city-approved steps are taken by the project developer.)
“Those mitigation measures include: that the solar panels will be constructed of dark-colored materials and covered with an anti-reflective coating to reduce glare and a potential “lake effect”; that construction shall occur outside of bird nesting season and pre-construction surveys will be done for burrowing owl and southern tarplant and Coulters goldfields; that a Native American monitor shall be allowed on-site during all ground disturbance activities;
Three Planning Commission members were present at the September 2025 meeting. Planners voted 2-1 to approve the project.
The issue is that the Los Cerritos Wetlands Trust and others object to more infrastructure on sensitive land near the wetlands.
Project critics have called for an environmental impact report.
In December 2025, the city received 22 emails opposing the project.
The council at the time deadlocked 2-2 on whether to deny the appeal. District One Council Member Joe Kalmick abstained citing the “pretty barren” condition of the site and his position as vice chair of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority.
The council then voted 4-1 to continue the hearing to this year.
“The proposed PV system would interconnect with the Hellman Property’s electrical infrastructure and operate in parallel with the utility grid to provide sustainable clean energy in support of the facilities’ operations,” Temple wrote in the staff report.
“While any excess power will be exported to the utility grid, the purpose of the system is primarily only for the operations at Hellman OGPF. Currently, the electrical power used for the Hellman Ranch Oil and Gas Facility, and the other associated facilities, such as the offsite gas plant, production wells, pump stations, etc., are provided by an onsite gas turbine generator and Southern California Edison via a direct connection with their electrical grid system. Use of solar power to provide electrical power for the facilities’ operations would serve to reduce overall air emissions associated with electrical power generation and reduce the overall operating cost of the Hellman facilities; that an Interim Soil Stabilization plan shall be developed to prevent soil erosion subsequent to the construction; and that the applicant shall maintain a minimum of 30 feet from City waterlines for all project components,” Temple wrote.
“On December 9, 2025, the City Council held a public hearing on the appeal. The appellant and residents from Seal Beach and surrounding communities testified and requested that an EIR be completed by the City before a decision was made by Council. Two residents of Heron Pointe testified that they had recently become aware of the project and requested more time to review the environmental document and asked if the project could be scaled back in size,” Temple wrote.
“The City Council continued the hearing to February 9, 2026 to provide additional review time by the public, and asked the applicant if they could evaluate the project to see if the scope could be reduced to be less impactful to the residents at Heron Pointe,” Temple wrote.
“Subsequent to the December 9, 2025 Council Meeting, on February 2, 2026, the applicant submitted a new scope of work to remove approximately one-third of the solar tables by removing the array of solar tables located on the eastern side of the project site, closest to the area of natural vegetation and the residences at Heron Pointe,” Temple wrote.
