The Planning Commission on Sept. 29 approved minor use permit for a proposed solar panel system at the Hellman Ranch Oil and Gas Production facility. The property is near Los Cerritos Wetlands. This was a special meeting of the commission.
The vote was 2 to 1. District Four Commissioner Patty Campbell cast the dissenting vote.
“The land under the panels will be rendered uninhabitable for wildlife,” Campbell said after the almost two-hour meeting.
District Five Commissioner/Chair Margo Wheeler was absent.
In related news, the District Three seat on the Planning Commission has not been filled since the recent passing of District Three Commissioner Richard Coles.
Eleven individuals sat in the audience, including District One Council Member Joe Kalmick and District Two Councilman Ben Wong.
Due to limited space, the following is not a transcript but highlights from the meeting and from the staff report.
Applicant
Devon Shay, general manager for Hellman Properties, spoke for the company. She said when the project was started three years ago, the intent was to offset the company’s needs from the electrical grid. She said the economics had changed. “This does not offset our costs. The Hellman family felt that this was just the right thing to do,” Shay said.
In response to a comment from Campbell, General Manager Shay said there are many members of the Hellman family involved in restoration.
The project is expected to go to the California Coastal Commission for a coastal development permit.
Letters
The city received 24 letters and emails from residents of Seal Beach and nearby cities about the project. Three of the letters opposed the project outright. Other letters called for further study of the proposal or alternatives. Seven letters specifically called for an environmental impact report on the project.
According to the staff report, the city staff have decided an initial study/mitigated negative declaration was the appropriate environmental document for the project. (A mitigated negative declaration means a formal declaration that the environmental impact could be minimized by steps that the developer would take subject to city approval. An environmental impact report is a more complex process.)
Public
Five individuals spoke during the public hearing. A representative of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Trust argued there was not enough environmental analysis and called for an EIR. Ken Scythe, of College Park West, thanked the Hellman family and the company for being sensitive to solar energy. Scythe also advocated an EIR for the project. Scythe expressed concern about glare from the panels. “I think there needs to be more discussion here,” Scythe said.
Commissioners
After the hearing was closed, District Two Commissioner Karen Nolta asked if the commission wanted to go with the EIR or with the mitigated negative declaration. Nolta said she felt the mitigation proposed for the project was thorough. She said she watched the Environmental Quality Control Board meeting twice. She said the board seemed to be satisfied by the answers provided. Nolta said the glare’s impact on birds were her biggest issues. She felt those were covered by the mitigated negative declaration. “The glare seems to be very minimal,” Nolta said.
According to District One Commissioner/Vice Chair Calvin Mingione, the initial study/negative declaration to his eyes did a good job of saying there are less than significant impacts if you mitigate them. Mingione said he saw references to a lot of the issues that were brought up in the letters from the public.
Senior Assistant City Attorney Amy Greyson suggested adding language about soil analysis to the resolution.
Mingione moved adoption of the mitigated declaration. The vote was 2-1 with Campbell dissenting.
Mingione moved adoption of the resolution approving the permit for the project. The vote was 2-1 with Campbell dissenting.
The 10-day appeal period began Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Background
Hellman Ranch Oil and Gas Production Facility officials propose building a 1.5 megawatt solar panel system on their property, according to the staff report by Shaun Temple, interim director of Community Development. The property is located near the Los Cerritos Wetlands, which straddles the borders of counties of Los Angeles and Orange as well as the borders of Long Beach and Seal Beach. The proposed solar panel system would be mounted on the ground in a fixed tilt.
“Oil production activities have been taking place on the subject property since the 1920s and the site is zoned Oil Extraction (OE),” Temple wrote.
“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. 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,” Temple wrote.
“The system would be composed of 3 arrays with a total of 56 solar table structures supported by piles with concrete foundations. The major components of the solar system would include the solar panels and support structures, collector cables, inverters, and subpanels, and power cables, transformer, and disconnect switches. All but one of the solar tables would be about 96.8 feet long by about 14.3 feet wide and would contain two rows of 28 solar panels. One of the solar tables in Array 1 would be about 34.6 feet long by about 14.3 feet wide and contain two rows of 10 solar panels. The solar tables would be tilted facing south at about a 10 degree angle. The front edge of the tables would be at a height of approximately 18-inches, with the back edge of the tables being at a height of about 50 inches,” Temple wrote.
According to Temple, the project required a minor use permit, which brought the matter to the Planning Commission.
Mitigation measures, according to the Temple report, would include:
• Using dark materials for making the solar panels. The panels would be covered with anti-reflective coating to reduce glare and reduce a potential “lake effect”.
• Having construction to take place outside of bird nesting season and requiring pre-construction surveys for tar plants and burrowing owls.
• Having a Native American monitor be on site whenever the ground is disturbed.
• Having an interim soil stabilization plan to prevent erosion.
• Requiring the applicant to maintain a minimum 30 foot distance from city waterlines.
According to the report, on Aug. 20, the Environmental Quality Control Board agreed to make the following recommendations:
• That the solar equipment be removed from the site when oil and gas operations ended there.
• That soil testing be done at the depth where holes would be dug for piles to support the solar panel system. The Environmental Board wanted the soil analysis to be submitted to the city before Seal Beach approved redistribution of the soil.
• For the first year, bird accidents and deaths related to the solar operations would be documented and reported to Seal Beach.
• That an easement be put in place to perpetually protect tar plants.
