In the wake of two serious battery storage fires — one in Otay Mesa and another in Escondido — the Poway City Council on Tuesday night gave the green light to building another such facility in its community.
By a unanimous vote, the city council approved the second reading of Ordinance 8-71. It changes the land use designation at Kirkham Way near Beeler Canyon Road. The change makes way for the battery storage facility known as "Nighthawk" to be built there.
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Residents living near the business park, where the Nighthawk battery storage facility is slated to be built, walked away from the nearly packed house at Tuesday's regular city council meeting feeling disappointed and uncertain about their futures and safety of their families.
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It was an emotional 90 minutes as homeowner after homeowner was applauded for sharing their grave concerns about the facility.
“It’s just a bad situation to put a fire hazard in a high fire zone. I can’t wrap my head around that,“ Scripps Ranch resident Karen Kuhn said.
Kuhn is among the nearly four thousand residents of Scripps Ranch neighborhood of Stone Bridge. She says Nighthawk is expected to be built some 2,500 feet from her house.
“It was disappointing. It was 5-0. We’ve been coming to these meetings for over two years. They keep telling us it’s going to be safe,” Kuhn said.
The unanimous vote came after the city council heard from the public, Poway’s fire chief and Arevon, the company that will build the storage facility.
Company representatives wanted to assure people who were at the meeting. They told the gallery that the technology has improved and is much safer.
In a statement emailed to NBC 7 on Tuesday, spokesperson Blair Motocha wrote: “The project has incorporated supplementary safety measures, including a concrete perimeter wall; dedicated fuel management zones, with built-in irrigation and maintenance and an infrared thermal detection monitoring system.”
“The technology may be improved, but if you have a fire, any ember that flies away from the building pad will catch the neighboring valley on fire,“ Stone Bridge resident Jim Irish said.
Recent battery storage facility fires have left homeowners in the area on edge. Last May, the one in Otay Mesa took 17 days to extinguish. The SDG&E battery storage fire on Enterprise Street in Escondido evacuated hundreds of people, closed schools and strained fire and rescue resources for days.
“There is certainly going to be toxic fumes, and in a wildfire situation, these flames are like 100 feet tall,“ Kuhn said.
Poway Fire Chief Jeff Chumbley says a battery storage facility would pose no greater risk than other facilities in the business park.
Poway Mayor Steve Vaus wrapped up his comments by saying no matter how they vote, it will be the state that will challenge it.
“It doesn’t matter how they vote, Sacramento will force it down our throats,” Irish said.
Other questions remain, including whether residents are at greater risk of losing their homeowner’s insurance. People living in Stone Bridge say there is just one road in and out of their development, which could make evacuating the area more difficult.
The city of Poway will receive financial benefits through the project: $10 million in guaranteed tax benefits and $2 million set aside for a community fund.
