Setback for Quail Brush Power Plant

Plans for a natural gas-fired power plant near the Sycamore Landfill were at least temporarily derailed today by the San Diego Planning Commission.

The commission voted 4-1 to deny a request to initiate a proposed rezone to reclassify the 22-acre parcel within the East Elliott Community Plan from open space to industrial so that the plant can be constructed.

Cogentrix LLC, a North Carolina-based firm seeking to build the Quail Brush generating  plant on 11 acres within the proposed rezone parcel,  has 10 days to appeal the commission’s ruling to the San Diego City Council.

The state also has the ability to overrule the city of San Diego. The California Energy Commission has jurisdiction over the project, which calls for a 100-megawatt "peaker" plant that would produce electricity during periods of high demand on the energy grid.

Opponents to the plant, including the Santee City Council, contend it would be incompatible with the surrounding area, which includes homes, West Hills High School and Mission Trails Regional Park.

On March 28, the council voted unanimously to oppose the power plant "unless and until all effects of the proposal are fully disclosed, analyzed and mitigated (to) reduce effects to a level of insignificance in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act."

Quail Brush Public Workshop Cancelled

The California Energy Commission has cancelled a public workshop on the Quail Brush power plant project originally scheduled for Friday, June 29 at West Hills High School in Santee.

The workshop was cancelled after the Cogentrix  Energy LLC, which is seeking permits to build a 100-megawatt natural-gas-fired  power plant, missed a June 22 deadline for filing supplemental project information with the commission.

Commission officials said the additional information was to include details about a revised design aimed at addressing concerns raised by the public and the city of Santee, including the visual impact of the plant on the surrounding open space.

Commission officials decided the public would be better informed if the workshop takes place after Cogentrix unveils details of the proposed redesign, which requires complex re-engineering that isn’t finished yet. The commission issued a statement saying the hearing would be rescheduled when Congentrix files information on the revised design.

Cogentrix has indicated it is working on a redesign aimed at lessening the plant’s visual impact by consolidating the original 11 smokestacks that would be 100 feet tall into two clusters that would be about 70 feet tall.

The proposed plant would occupy about 11 acres of a 21.6-acre parcel near the Sycamore Landfill near Santee’s western boundary with the city of San Diego.

Deadline Today For Power Plant Comments

Today  (June 19) is the deadline for submitting letters or emails to the San Diego Planning Commission regarding a proposed rezone that would allow for the construction of the Quail Brush power plant project.

Email comments can be sent to planingcommission@sandiego.gov

The commission is scheduled to consider the rezone at its June 28 meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. at San Diego City Hall.

The commission is still in the process of deciding whether San Diego planners should analyze whether the power generating plant can be built on a 10-acre parcel currently zoned for open space.

The proposed power plant site is in the city of San Diego north of State Route 52 but close to Santee's western boundary near the Sycamore Landfill.

Cogentrix Energy of North Carolina, the firm that wants to build the 100-megawatt natural gas-fired facility, also is seeking a construction permit from the California Energy Commission.

Quail Brush Developer Mulling Changes to Project

A firm vying to build a natural gas-fired power plant on Santee’s western border is “considering making some modifications to the profile of the proposed project,” in response to public criticism,  according to an April 16 report from the California Energy Commission.

Cogentrix Energy of North Carolina is redesigning the project to lower the proposed 11 exhaust stacks from 100 to 70 feet and group them into two clusters, said Eric Solorio, the agency's siting project manager.

Lowering the stacks will require Cogentrix to do new modeling to show the predicted path of emissions from the plant, and grouping the stacks into two clusters will require changes to the project's grading plan, Solorio said.  Studies to gauge the effect of the redesign will take about six weeks to complete, he said.

As currently proposed, the 100-megawatt electrical generating facility would include eleven 100-foot-tall exhaust stacks, a 30-foot-tall water tank and other two-story structures spread over an 11-acre site near the Sycamore Canyon landfill.

In March, the Santee City Council unanimously approved a resolution opposing the power plant “unless and until all effects of the proposal are fully disclosed, analyzed and mitigated (to) reduce effects to a level of insignificance in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.”

In addition to obtaining a permit from the Energy Commission, Cogentrix Energy needs approval from the city of San Diego to rezone the site from open space to industrial. The San Diego City Planning Commission has rescheduled its public hearing on the proposed rezone for April 26.

The Energy Commission also plans to hold more public hearings on Quail Brush, but not until the applicant provides more information about the project, the report states.

 Energy Commission officials recently cancelled a public hearing originally scheduled for April to allow themselves more time to review additional information requested from the developers.

“Once staff receives the applicant’s outstanding data responses and evaluates the information, then staff will schedule and notice future workshops, as needed, in order to address substantive issues,” the report states.

 Energy Commission officials said they have received numerous letters from the public, most of which “express concerns about potential environmental impacts of the proposed” project.

In March, nearly 200 people attended an informational workshop hosted by the Energy Commission, which also received a petition containing more than 1,000 signatures of people opposed to the project.

You can read the entire report here.

FYI: Quail Brush Power Plant

The Santee City Council on March 28 unanimously endorsed a resolution opposing plans to build a 100-megawatt, natural gas fired power plant in San Diego near Santee’s western boundary. The project, known as the Quail Brush Power Plant, is proposed for 10 acres along the road leading to the Sycamore Canyon landfill. 

A group of local residents has organized under the name Stop the Santee Power Plant. Extensive discussion about the project can be viewed at the group’s website: stopthesanteepowerplant.org

Before it can move forward, the project must be granted a licence from the California Energy Commission, and the site would have to be rezoned by the San Diego Planning Commission from open space to industrial. Licensing documents filed with the California Energy Commission are available online here.