Stanton Hopes to Pull Plug on Plan for Edison Land

The Christmas tree farm that used to be under the power lines at Stanton’s city limits didn’t bother residents. Though a few trucks motored in and out, generally the little business was quiet, innocuous.

But when the farm closed and Southern California Edison proposed an 8 1/2-acre auto-recycling business on the site, neighbors howled in protest.

“We’re against this, and we’re going to fight it,” said Tim Butler, who moved to Santa Rosalia Street seven years ago with wife Adeline and son Billy, now 9.

From their back patio, the Butlers can see the site, which lies in an open area at the Stanton-Garden Grove border. They fear that if Ecology Auto Parts goes up, property values will go down as they and their neighbors contend with increased traffic and noise.

Under financial pressure from deregulation of the electricity industry, Edison officials in 1999 began encouraging construction of stores and industrial buildings on its transmission line corridors, which generally have been off-limits to all but agricultural or horticultural businesses. Most of those properties within city limits are designated open space.

Some cities welcome the development proposals, while others are adamant that Edison’s rights of way remain greenbelts.

The first such development was a self-storage facility in Rosemead, where Edison is based. Donald Wagner, Rosemead’s assistant city manager, said residents had some initial concerns, but the developer made changes that satisfied them. The facility opened in mid-1999.

Since then, self-storage facilities and RV parking lots have cropped up on Edison land in Garden Grove, Westminster and Irvine. The utility plans to allow 61 acres in Long Beach to be developed for warehouses and an entertainment zone with batting cages and miniature golf.

“We typically visit a city to get a feel about what they think is compatible,” said Lou Salas, Edison’s corporate project manager in real estate. The utility does not rent its property but licenses its use to developers.

In upscale La Canada Flintridge, a proposal for a drive-through coffee hut got a cold shoulder from residents.

Though Edison has not given up on developing the site at Foothill Boulevard and Indiana Avenue, resident Angela Smythe said, “for now, their proposals have gone away. I don’t think that people are cognizant of the door that could be opened by letting Edison develop these corridors.”

But nowhere has an Edison development proposal stirred the official anger as it has in Stanton, a city of 34,500 in only 3.3 square miles. Residents and elected officials have struggled for years to improve the city’s image.

Incorporated in the mid-1950s during Southern California’s building boom, Stanton has struggled to build a viable economic base. City revenue was so tight during the 1980s that Stanton was forced to eliminate its police and fire departments, relying instead on Orange County services, and lease a former elementary school for its City Hall.

Mayor William C. Estrada points angrily to parks and greenbelts on Edison property elsewhere. The auto recycling center would be “within 100 feet of our residents,” Estrada said. “Our City Council is pro-business, but our main problem is that Edison didn’t even consider the impact on our residents.

“I don’t see them proposing a junkyard in Irvine or Laguna Beach. Why are they doing it in our community? Why are they uglifying west Orange County and picking on us?”

Adding to officials’ and residents’ frustration is that the recycling center would be not in Stanton but in Garden Grove, which would receive the tax revenue it generates.

Ecology Auto officials did not return telephone calls last week seeking comment on the issue.

Edison officials say emphatically they are not targeting Stanton or west Orange County. They say Ecology Auto’s plan, which has not yet been submitted to Garden Grove, includes trees, landscaping and a 12-foot-high wall to ease eyesore potential.

“It’s been our policy to first look for a site that will least impact residents in an area that could support an activity” in terms of zoning, Salas said.

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The utility requires potential developers to secure proper zoning and building permits for any construction. In addition, Edison leases must be reviewed by the state Public Utilities Commission. Zoning hearings give neighbors a chance to complain about any project they say is incompatible.

Salas said any use of the Edison right of way has to be compatible with the area and the company’s needs. “We don’t want a junkyard,” he said. “And everything we’ve seen from Ecology Auto is state of the art.”

Salas said the utility has been in talks with Garden Grove on right-of-way issues for more than five years. For their part, Garden Grove officials say an auto recycling business would be compatible with the area, which is zoned industrial.

“Anyone who owns property has a right to submit plans for the property as long as it doesn’t break any zoning laws,” City Manager George L. Tindall said, noting that Stanton has two auto recycling firms operating within its city limits.

He has encouraged Ecology Auto executives to meet with Stanton officials and work out their differences.

Rather than resort to a legal fight, Stanton officials say they want to meet with their counterparts in Garden Grove to see what compromises are possible.

“We don’t want any battle right now with Garden Grove,” Estrada said. “We want to try to work this out.”