Council denies Whisper development request for overhead electrical lines

The San Marcos City Council approved the denial of two appeals from the Whisper development regarding the installation of electrical facilities.

The council, voting 6-0 last week in both cases with Councilmember Saul Gonzalez absent, upheld the staff’s decisions denying requests to deviate from the city’s requirement of installing electrical infrastructure underground rather than overhead.

“It needs to be a long term goal of the city to have as many of our power lines underground,” Councilmember Jude Prather said. “I don’t think we should make any special exemptions unless there’s something very unusual with the geography, like there’s a cave or something. … But in general there’s a lot of benefits to having underground utilities.”

Both appeals cited various reasons such as existing overhead electrical infrastructure within the development, floodplain concerns and flexibility in accommodating future electrical loads. However, despite these considerations, staff recommended denial of the appeals, citing the established regulations and the benefits of underground utilities.

Richard Reynosa, Assistant Director of Engineering for the city of San Marcos, outlined the specifics of the appeals, emphasizing that underground lines reduce the risks of accidents and injuries caused by contact with overhead lines, that the lines would be less vulnerable to damage from storms or potential tampering, there would be less of an impact on wildlife and that they are aesthetically pleasing.

While there is a large transmission line through the property, Reynosa stated that the other overhead power lines in the area preceded the city’s annexation of the property and that if those smaller lines needed to be replaced, they too would eventually move underground.

This appeal was part of a new bill passed by the state legislature. Reynosa noted that the bill facilitated appeals that were previously unavailable, providing developers with a formal avenue to contest administrative decisions. House Bill 14 states, “Where a development application does not include a provision for appeal, or where City Council is not the appeal body an applicant may appeal to City Council … No hearing shall be required for this appeal.”

This new law allowed Whisper to appeal the staff’s decision to deny the requested changes to the city council itself with council agreeing to deny the request in this instance.