2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land - 144

SOLUTION FILE
Starting point
Both dry and wet utilities
in Southern California are
modestly coordinated with
housing, but only in the most
general sense that utilities
assess the overall population
growth of a given SCAG
county or city, look at that
municipality's required housing
elements, plan enough utility
growth to satisfy those housing
elements, and extrapolate
by customer class to support
population growth. Utilities in
the SCAG region currently lack
the ability to readily drill down
to specific housing sites.
Panelist Charley Wilson, of
the Southern California Water
Coalition, says that, based on
anticipated population growth
with a time horizon of three to
five years, the board of a utility
such as Southern California
Edison (SCE) first makes a
projection for its entire service
area. SCE then budgets the
allocation of capital in its GenFront
row:
Charley Wilson,
Southern California Water Coalition
(Infrastructure); Ryan Aeh, City
Ventures (Developer); Craig
Perkins, The Energy Coalition
(Infrastructure); Walker Wells,
Raimi + Associates (Sustainability);
Kelli Bernard, Lighthouse Public
Affairs (panel cochair)
Back row:
Alex Rose, Continental
Development (panel cochair);
Charles Schilke, Johns Hopkins
University (Implementation);
Sherry Okun-Rudnak, BAE Urban
Economics (Finance);
KeAndra Cylear Dodds, LA Metro
(Equity)
eral Rate Case (GRC), which
its state regulatory agency,
the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC), reviews
every four years. The GRC,
as approved by the CPUC, is
then baked into the rates.
SCE makes routine utility
load studies, and forecasts
energy consumption and
growth patterns. In relatively
undeveloped areas like the
Inland Empire, where large
areas still remain for development,
the utility's planners can
make these calculations relatively
easily. In infill areas, however,
the planners must instead
make calculations on a
project-by-project basis.
The CPUC requires utilities
to build " just in time " extensions
of utility infrastructure
systems. The calculation can
be difficult because not everyone
follows through with
building their project. Ratepayer
advocates dislike having
to subsidize the deadweight
costs of overextended and
unused utility lines through
existing rates.
California law obliges
utilities to treat all applications
for service equally on a
first-come, first-served basis,
regardless of circumstances
such as availability of utility
service or clustering of housing.
This requirement greatly
limits the options of utilities
and SCAG housing site selectors.
Although current law has
the advantages of bright-line
enforcement, it may clash with
both utility and housing needs.
Developer's perspective
Complications arise if the
developer seeks to change the
use and/or bulk of a project-
such as converting outdated
office buildings into housing or
converting the site of a
single-family home into a substantial
apartment building.
Such a change in use and bulk
often requires utility infrastructure
upgrades.
Even before executing a
144
URBAN LAND
FALL 2023
S TEPHEN A. S AMPS ON
2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land
