Ramona power line reaction mixed

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 22, 2006 11:25 PM PST ∞

RAMONA ---- Ramona residents were relieved Wednesday that the region's electric utility is planning to bury residential sections of its 120-mile power line, but said that San Diego Gas & Electric Co. should put more wires in the ground to avoid erecting eyesores in open spaces behind their backyards.

Still, some residents said they worried that, even 6 to 8 feet underground, the Sunrise Powerlink's wires would jolt property values and ruin views. And not everyone believed that SDG&E would follow through on its proposal to bury seven miles of wires ---- five in the Ramona area and two in Rancho Penasquitos ---- even though company officials say they are serious.

"They say it's going to go underground, but you don't know that," said Lisa Wales, a 46-year-old homemaker who lives along a section of the utility's proposed route through Ramona. "They're basically trying to appease everybody, and then they are going to do whatever they want."

Utility officials say they are not trying to appease anybody.

"This is an honest effort to address community concerns," said Stephanie Donovan, a spokeswoman for SDG&E. "We are definitely going to pursue those underground options as we have rolled them out."

As for whether underground sections could be extended beyond edges of neighborhoods to further soften visual impacts, Donovan said SDG&E would look into the idea.

"That kind of feedback is exactly what we're looking for," she said.

At the same time, Donovan stressed that the utility has yet to make a final decision on the route, much less pinpoint the locations where the line would dive underground or pop back up.

SDG&E is proposing to build a $1.4 billion power line stretching 120 miles from Interstate 8 in the Imperial County to an existing electric substation in Carmel Valley, southeast of Interstate 5 and Highway 56. In its journey from desert to sea, the superhighway of electricity, with its wires draped from 160-foot erector-setlike poles, would cross Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Ramona, Poway, Scripps Ranch and Rancho Penasquitos.

A substation would be built near Warner Springs at Highway 79 and S-2, on a ranch west of there, or along Highway 78 three miles west of Santa Ysabel.

The utility says the line would deliver 1,000 megawatts to San Diego County. A megawatt is the standard measuring unit for electricity and roughly what it takes to power 750 to 1,000 homes.

There are two potential routes through Ramona. One would skirt north around San Diego Country Estates in an underground trench, rise above ground as it passes over hills, and dive back underground on Creelman Lane. The other would follow Gunn Stage Road and San Vicente Road, and be buried for much of that stretch.

"It sounds like they are trying to keep power poles out of people's backyards and minimize the impact on people's views," said Greg Failla, 38, a tennis pro who lives in the San Diego Country Estates and who was bicycling with his wife along Gunn Stage on Wednesday afternoon.

A few miles to the west, Jeremy Davis, a 34-year-old maintenance manager for a time-share resort, said he was relieved to hear the line might be placed underground along Creelman Lane.

"It's a lot better than having it above your head," Davis said.

Davis rents a four-bedroom, hilltop home on 15 acres at the east end of the lane. While maps suggest the line would pop up right behind his rented house, Davis said his view of the Ramona valley is in the other direction and would not be disturbed. Davis also has a sweeping view of snowcapped Palomar Mountain to the north.

Half a mile to the west, however, Wales was anything but relieved. She said she worried about potential adverse health effects of electromagnetic fields, the possibility that SDG&E might condemn a portion of her property and damage that might occur during construction. Scientists have not established a clear link between electrical fields and health risk, according to the World Health Organization.

And even if SDG&E were to bury the Creelman lane, Wales said she would still be forced to look at giant poles out of an east-facing window ---- her favorite view.

"We don't want to be out here looking at those big rocket-ship-looking towers," Wales said.

Amy McClure, a 34-year-old homemaker and teacher, said she dreads the thought of having to look out from her back porch at giant metallic poles climbing the hill behind the house that she and husband, Kelly, bought last summer.

"I think it's going to hurt my property value," McClure said. "It's going to affect the whole community. Everybody around here is going to see it. Hopefully, the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) will deny it, but I don't think that's going to happen."

SDG&E filed an application with the Public Utilities Commission in December and expects to file a precise proposed route this summer. The San Francisco-based state regulatory agency is expected to rule sometime in 2007.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.