The Current State Of Affairs

I've had a number of requests for information about our palm trees and PG&E, so I tried to write a brief summary.

BACKGROUND
PG&E is required by law to maintain a 10 foot clearance around the high voltage lines. With most trees, PG&E can trim (or pay a contractor to perform the directional pruning), encouraging the trees away from power lines, allowing them to grow in interesting directions. Palm trees growing under power lines present a problem to the utility company, because they cannot be trimmed effectively; cutting into the crown of a palm will kill the tree.

Today, there are three palm trees that do not meet the regulatory clearance required by PG&E. If PG&E trims these trees any further, it will kill the trees. This would then leave the burden of removing the dead trees on our cash-strapped city. Since Pacifica has no money, PG&E has graciously offered to remove the trees, and even offered to provide up to $300 for new trees.

Our palm trees:
Our palm trees are Canary Island Date Palms. These trees are about 100 years old and are estimated to live anywhere from 150 to 300 years. I called two companies and got estimates on what it would cost to replace such a tree. To replace them with smaller, but full grown trees is in the range of $25,000. Did I mention PG&E offered $300?

PG&E has already identified 11 trees they plan to remove, 3 immediately. This will have a significant negative impact on our property values.

Moving the trees:
Moving a large palm tree would cost between $6500-$8500, but given that they are so close to the power lines, it may actually be more expensive in this situation. Also given the age of our trees and the abuse they've already suffered from the pruning, moving the trees will most likely kill them. Also, these factors make them poor candidates for selling, so we can't really do that either.

Moving the poles:
In early 2000, the utility pole near the intersection of Reina Del Mar and Juanita was moved to the creek-side to save a couple palms. If memory serves me right, Pacifica paid PG&E about $7500 to move that utility pole. Today, PG&E is requiring that we pay a $3000 fee up front to first determine if moving the pole is even possible. If it's determined that a pole may be moved, we can then pay them $10,000 to $20,000 to move each utility pole.

Palm trees nearing the high voltage lines presents a danger that needs to be addressed soon. here's my take:

• The palm trees were there long before the utility lines
• When the power lines were built, the trees were over 10 feet tall.
• PG&E was responsible for choosing the location and constructing utility lines directly above palm trees. They should have foreseen that the trees would eventually grow into the lines.
• PG&E is required by law to maintain the lines, and that includes responsibly placing utility lines in a location where they may be maintainable.
• Relocating utility poles is cheaper than replacing palm trees, and will not only save the three trees in question today, but can also save other palm trees in the future.