RANCHO PENASQUITOS - Residents of this upscale community in the path of San Diego Gas & Electric Co.'s proposed power line said Monday they were heartened that alternate routes around Rancho Penasquitos probably will be studied.

But they said they were not happy when told an alternate route along a new freeway is likely to be rejected out of hand because the California Department of Transportation is opposed to the idea.

"I'm discouraged that you're not going to go with the State Route 56 option," said Keith Ritchey, who has been studying the project for the West Chase Homeowners Association. If the option is not studied, then they will never know whether that area would have been the best choice for avoiding homes, Ritchey said.

Denis Trafecanty, who owns property in Santa Ysabel and works in Poway, said, "It's kind of comical when we talk about Caltrans. … But what about the landowners? Why don't we find out what the landowners want?"

The comments were made at a so-called scoping meeting for the Sunrise Powerlink, a proposed $1.3 billion transmission line that would run for 150 miles through the desert and mountain backcountry, plugging San Diego County into a big electric substation near El Centro.

Attended by 120 people, the gathering at the Doubletree Golf Resort was one of several meetings planned this week to discuss the range of alternatives to Sunrise that will be analyzed as a part of a major environmental study in the coming months.

SDG&E officials say the project is needed to meet the region's future electricity needs, and to boost the portion of the regional supply that comes from the sun instead of the burning of fossil fuels. Opponents, who object to the thought of huge metal towers up to 160 feet tall, say there are other ways to boost reliance on non-fossil-fuel power.

State and federal officials are proposing to eliminate 70 of 100 potential alternatives to the project that were identified either by SDG&E, or by the public during an earlier round of meetings, and to carry 30 forward for detailed study. The alternatives include both different routes and different ways of generating electricity.

Helen Dominguez, who resides in the Park Village area, said the power line should go around Rancho Penasquitos because of the danger she said it could cause to area children. Dominguez said her first choice would be an alternate route to the south through Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

A draft of the environmental study is expected to be released by July 13. It is expected to play a key role in shaping state and federal agencies' decisions on whether to grant permission to SDG&E to build the project. SDG&E is seeking permits from the California Public Utilities Commission and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Decisions are expected in January 2008.

According to a report announcing this week's meetings, the field of options appear to be narrowing for the desert and inland portions of the proposed power line route and widening for the coastal section.

In Rancho Penasquitos, three alternate routes that would circumvent the community and Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve have emerged.

One would cross the northern part of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and the other would go through Scripps Ranch and Sorrento Mesa. Both sections would run underground, then rise above the surface along Interstate 805 en route to the Sunrise Powerlink's destination: A substation in Carmel Valley.

A third route would wrap around northeast Rancho Penasquitos, following Carmel Valley Road.

In the desert, agencies are proposing to remove from further consideration routes along the S-22 from the Salton Sea to Borrego Springs and S-2 through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park between Julian and Interstate 8. The report states that both routes would place the wires in important bighorn sheep habitat and create many miles of eyesores for backcountry tourists.

The agencies also propose to eliminate an alternate route through Julian along Highway 78 and one just north of there across Volcan Mountain. They also propose to drop an optional route west of Santa Ysabel that would slice through the upper reaches of San Dieguito River Park.

In Ramona, the agencies propose to eliminate a previously preferred route along Creelman Lane and the north edge of San Diego Country Estates, as well as an alternate route along Highway 78. However, they propose to study putting an additional half mile of the line underground, next to Starlight Mountain Estates.

Other alternatives set for consideration involve sources of power. Examples include proposals to replace the aging power plants in Carlsbad and Chula Vista with modern natural-gas-fired generators, to build turbines to harness the wind of east county and to connect San Diego County with a proposed hydroelectric plant at Lake Elsinore.

Another public meeting on the alternatives is planned for 7 tonight in Ramona, at the San Vicente Inn at 24157 San Vicente Road.

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