By SUE PASCOE
Editor
Residents closest to the proposed pole-top distributing stations (an empty lot next to Marquez Elementary and a site on El Medio south of Sunset Boulevard), raised objections to those sites at a March 14 DWP meeting. Last week, Councilman Mike Bonin announced that alternate sites have been selected.
One pole-top station will be installed above the high school baseball field at Sunset and Temescal, a busy intersection and the expected future haul route for Caruso Affiliated’s Village project.
The second pole will be planted at the former Bernheimer Gardens site—Sunset Boulevard near western Marquez Avenue.
At the Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting last Thursday, Area 6 Representative Stuart Muller said, “There are people living across from the site [at Sunset and Temescal] and it’s on a scenic highway by beautiful Temescal Gateway Park. This new site was chosen because someone said, ‘Let’s just put it where no one is organized enough to object to it.’”
In January, the DWP announced it would construct two 65 ft. pole-top distributing (PTD) stations in the Marquez area because the current infrastructure cannot support increased energy demand in Pacific Palisades.
Residents were told by DWP that the poles were needed because of the frequency of outages in this area caused by three overloaded circuits. The poles will serve as “extension cords” until a new substation could be built.
Construction on the PTD stations was originally scheduled for March, in order to be finished by the summer when electricity demands are higher.
According to a May 6 DWP press release, “LADWP will move forward with constructing the pole-top distributing stations, finalizing the electrical design and obtaining all necessary permits, in an effort to begin installation in June.”
The alternative locations (the empty DWP-owned lot on Marquez and the lot at Sunset at El Medio) will continue to be backup options in the event that the preferred locations are for some reason rendered infeasible.
The corner of Sunset and Temescal is one of the new proposed sites for a DWP pole-top distributing station.
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