Urgent Action Required: Protecting Community Property Values & Safety Against High-Voltage Transmission Projects
Dear HOA Board Members and Community Management Teams,
As fiduciary leaders responsible for preserving property values, maintaining community safety, and advocating for homeowners, you face an unprecedented challenge. Proposed regional utility transmission corridors—such as SDG&E's multi-billion-dollar Golden Pacific Powerlink—threaten to place 200-foot high-voltage towers along residential boundaries, open space corridors, and neighborhood access roads throughout Temecula and the surrounding valley.
This is not merely a municipal utility discussion; it is a direct operational and financial risk to your common areas, master plans, and homeowners' investments.
Non-Political & Clear Fiduciary Scope
This is strictly a Health, Safety, and Welfare Issue—Not Politics or Pending Legislation.
Board members often express concern regarding restrictions on HOA political involvement or legislative lobbying. It is critical to clarify that acting on transmission corridors does not violate political neutrality rules or restrictions on legislative lobbying:
- Purely Fiduciary Responsibility: Participating in utility siting proceedings falls squarely under your duty to protect the physical assets, safety, and health of the community.
- No Political Alignment: Opposing or seeking mitigation for an infrastructure project impacting your immediate boundaries is an administrative and regulatory defense of property, not political advocacy or legislative endorsement.
- Health, Safety, and Welfare Mandate: Addressing potential wildfire threats, structural hazards, emergency evacuation bottlenecks, and severe loss of home values is a core obligation of every residential board.
Why HOA Board Engagement Is Critical
- Property Valuation Defense: Unmitigated, high-voltage industrial infrastructure adjacent to residential developments depresses property values, extends days on market, and shrinks the buyer pool. Lower home values directly impact master association assessments, reserve fund planning, and future neighborhood liquidity.
- Wildfire and Evacuation Risks: Running extra-high-voltage (500-kV) lines through high-wind and open-space corridors exponentially increases wildfire hazards. Towers placed in tight residential channels restrict aerial firefighting access and potentially compromise key neighborhood evacuation routes during an emergency.
- Fiduciary Duty to Protect Common Elements: HOAs are legally organized to protect shared assets, greenbelts, and community quiet enjoyment. Silence from community associations is frequently misinterpreted by utility developers and state regulatory bodies as passive consent.
Recommended Action Plan for Boards and Management
Your board does not need to navigate this alone, but formal involvement is essential to protect your association's legal standing:
- Pass a Board Resolution: Formalize your community's stance regarding proposed greenfield transmission routes cutting near or through your neighborhood limits to protect health, safety, and property values. We will post this on Savetemecula.org.
- Educate Homeowners: Keep residents informed through official HOA newsletters, email blasts, and portal updates regarding administrative proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
- Let the Community Post our Signs and Banners: Message and protect what is ours.
- Unite with Community Coalitions: Partner with Save Temecula to pool resources, share technical data, and present a unified front before regulatory decision-makers.
- Participate in Regulatory Hearings: Submit formal written public comments as an incorporated entity during CPUC scoping meetings and Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) reviews.
When HOA boards unite to protect their physical boundaries, safety, and home values, they create an undeniable record that forces state regulators to demand lower-risk, non-wires, or alternative routing solutions.
We strongly urge your board to place this topic on your next executive or general meeting agenda to discuss steps for protecting your homeowners. We would be more than happy to present our strategy to help you protect your homeowners.
Sincerely,
Save Temecula