After months of requests from residents during public comment, the city of Santa Clarita is holding a public outreach meeting next week to address questions residents might have about the battery energy storage system that’s now online in Canyon Country.
“The city of Santa Clarita is hosting a community meeting in partnership with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Terra-gen regarding fire safety of energy-storage facilities,” according to the announcement being planned for Canyon Country.
The idea “is to inform residents of the battery storage facility located in Canyon Country, specifically as it relates to fire safety,” according to a statement Wednesday from Masis Hagobian, intergovernmental relations manager for the city. “Representatives from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, along with representatives from the operator of the facility, will lead the meeting.”
The meeting is scheduled to start 6 p.m. July 10 at the Canyon Country Community Center.
Carrie Lujan, communications manager for the city, said door hangers announcing the meeting are being placed, as are posts on social media.
Due to the property’s zoning, the 3.5-acre lot was approved for a 55,000-square-foot, 80-megawatt facility at the Dec. 7, 2021, Planning Commission meeting.
The commission approved the plan on a 4-1 vote, with only Commissioner Rene Berlin, a retired executive who worked on countywide planning for the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, expressing concern about the location at the intersection of Solemint and Soledad Canyon roads.
“I feel that this is a really good project. I’m just not sure if it’s in the right location given the technology,” said Berlin, in casting a dissenting vote. “It’s not that I’m against the project — I think it provides a really good benefit especially for Sand Canyon and Canyon Country that have the power issues over there. It’s just I’m not sure if it’s in the right location.”
There wasn’t a large protest at that meeting. But as the plant got closer to coming online in recent months, the expression of residents’ frustration during public comment at City Council meetings, particularly those who live in proximity to the facility, grew steadily.
These concerns seemed to be magnified by a highly publicized, weekslong fire that started in January at Moss Landing, a lithium-ion battery storage facility in Northern California roughly 10 times the size of Canyon Country’s. The incident destroyed about 75% of the facility and caused major problems for firefighters, in addition to environmental and public safety concerns.
At the Feb. 25 council meeting, Alan Ferdman, a former City Council candidate and member of the Canyon Country Advisory Committee, said the city was ignoring the safety concerns of an incident to get the project approved.
“I’m sure you probably notified everybody within a thousand feet,” said Ferdman, referring to the legal requirement for notice of a pending project. “But 1,000 feet is nothing, because the poison gas created in that situation will go as far as the wind goes.”
Santa Clarita City Council members said they were taking the concerns seriously and requested a briefing on the questions and a public meeting to be organized by staff.
On March 25, the city’s Public Safety Committee also hosted a discussion by the L.A. County Fire Department on the department’s policies regarding how fires at such facilities are addressed.
