New PG&E power poles rile residents in Forestville

FORESTVILLE - The large steel utility post that rises 60 feet or so above Trenton Road, supporting a branching structure of coils, wires and instruments, is hard for passers-by to miss. Motorists slow on their way down the road to get a better look at it.

But for those with homes directly facing the new PG&E power pole, its towering presence is an inescapable sight outside their windows, in some cases mere yards from their front doors.

Installed earlier this month, it is now the dominant landmark in this corner of Mirabel Heights, a semi-rural neighborhood of tree-filled yards and hillside construction. And “the whole neighborhood,” one property owner said, “is in an uproar.”

“We're going to request that they remove this tower,” said Ulla Kiriakopolos, whose family owns three rental homes in the area. Her family has hired a lawyer and placed a large, handmade sign at the base of the pole calling on PG&E to retrieve its “Godzilla.”

The brownish, weathered steel structure is one of four new steel poles recently installed in Sonoma County as part of a larger effort to modernize and add resilience to PG&E's power grid.

The company is replacing manual switches with automated ones that will allow it to de-energize and re-energize lines remotely, monitor equipment conditions and failures, and otherwise maintain the system more efficiently and reliably, according to PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras.

Three more of the large steel poles are to be erected in Sonoma County over the next year or so. They are among the 260 poles with automated switches slated to go in around PG&E's service territory during the “first wave” of installations, which began in early 2017, Contreras said.

The pushback in Forestville echoes opposition in Santa Rosa in recent months to rollout of new wireless installations on utility poles. City residents have voiced objections to the new small cell wireless equipment, raising aesthetic and health concerns. The rollout of up to 72 antennas Verizon says it needs to boost the speed and reliability of its local network was put on hold last month to allow for a series of public meetings about the project, including two meetings this week at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building.

In Forestville, PG&E needs the large steel poles to support the needed transformers, sensors and switching gear while withstanding maximum wind speeds predicted for the area, according to Contreras.

The new equipment allows PG&E to detect and resolve issues more quickly, enabling it to diagnose certain problems and take the equipment off line without waiting for a worker to arrive at the scene.

“This is one of many efforts underway to modernize the grid and increase the level of operational flexibility,” Contreras said.

Residents say that's fine. They just object to the location.

“If you look out the window, it's right there,” said Judith Lerner, a 15-year resident whose short driveway now stops at the wide base of the post, where the hardware includes large metal boxes and a grated platform. “And the houses above us, on the hills behind us, they just look out the windows and that's what they see right now.”

Besides the aesthetics, she's concerned about the electromagnetic field and potential health risks she may not understand. “I'm very concerned,” Lerner said.

A second pole made of galvanized steel was erected earlier in February on another, more easterly stretch of Trenton Road, at the edge of a vineyard near Trenton-Healdsburg and Laguna roads. Though not as densely developed an area, one man lives directly across the street.

The pole, resident Andrew Hoffman said, “totally ruins your view.”

Two more poles were installed late last year at the PG&E substation in Healdsburg and another was begun in February on Laguna Road near Vine Hill Road east of Forestville but was removed halfway through the work because it encroached on private property, Contreras said. A substitute will be installed early next year at a still-unidentified location in Windsor, she said.

The status of the Trenton Road pole is somewhat uncertain, as well. Complaints from neighbors drew the attention of the county permit and planning staff, which determined the permit PG&E obtained for the job was inadequate. Approved in December, it called for replacement of an existing power pole, county staffers said. But no pole previously existed at the site, and the new one is substantially larger than any others in the community.

PG&E has until Thursday to file additional paperwork, department spokeswoman Maggie Fleming said. The county will determine then if it complies with local codes.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.