Oxnard's Del Sol High has been running on diesel generators. Costs run more than $1.6M

Del Sol High School in Oxnard has been running on pricey diesel generators since before doors opened for the first day of classes in August and for much of that time without permission from county air pollution regulators.

Oxnard Union High School District Superintendent Tom McCoy said that the district has used three large generators to power the county's newest public campus since November 2022 because it still cannot tie into the power grid. He chalked up the lack of utility-provided power to planning delays for the electrical line system to Del Sol High and the surrounding area.

"This has been a complex project," McCoy said by phone Wednesday. Costs have run higher than anticipated because of project roadblocks "beyond (the district's) control."

Karin Grennan, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, said in an email Wednesday that Oxnard Union will face yet-to-be-determined penalties once the agency completes a full assessment.

Already, the generators have cost the district about $1.6 million in rental fees and fuel, McCoy said, on top of an estimated $1.9 million in extra costs related to Del Sol High's construction.

David Eisenhauer, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison, declined to talk about the specifics of the process in a phone interview, but said utility planning time can vary greatly based on the project. "It's an involved process," he said.

It will be weeks, at minimum, until the generators can be switched off. McCoy said the district expects workers to complete the groundwork for the school to tie into the electrical grid by July 31.

Power struggle

This isn't the first utility problem in the fledgling high school's short history.

In the summer, weeks before the start of the school year, Oxnard city officials threatened to withhold water and sewer access if the district didn't get approval for a traffic control plan and complete corresponding work. That threat was averted two days before the start of class when the district and city came to an agreement on a traffic plan.

Kenneth Rozell, Oxnard's chief assistant city attorney, said by phone that the traffic kerfuffle and the long-winded electrical planning process are both directly tied to the district's role as the first major builders on the undeveloped farmland Del Sol High sits upon.

As part of a 2021 agreement with the city, Oxnard Union is responsible for more than $30 million of traffic and utility improvements for the 100-acre parcel.

The district only owns about 47 acres of the parcel, however, and McCoy said the district will get 55% of that money back when the Maulhardt family, who owns the other 53 acres, develops the remaining land into housing in the future.

One of the district's tasks was to replace a string of overhead electrical lines that ran across part of the property with updated underground electrical lines. McCoy said those existing lines didn't carry enough current to power the school while the undergrounding project was being completed.

Approval for the district's undergrounding plan also took years. Both sides dispute the reasons for the length of the process.

McCoy said that the first offsite improvement plans the district submitted to city officials in August 2020 included draft drawings from Southern California Edison that didn't receive any critiques from the city.

But Rozell said by email Tuesday that the city didn't enter serious conversations with the district and utility company about the electrical plans until January 2022 and that specific plans had not been determined as late as April 2022.

Those conversations dragged on, Rozell said, as the city, school district and SCE went back and forth about where and how the lines would be buried.

"We do not believe we were the impediment," he said.

Rozell said Edison has a standing agreement with the city that governs responsibility for electrical lines, but that the utility company asked for a special deal for the new project that would allow it to bury lines under the road, but require the city to pay for relocating the lines if it decided to move the roads in the future. The city declined, Rozell said.

McCoy said on Wednesday that the district was not party to any discussions directly between the city and utility company.

The issue was finally resolved, McCoy said, when Edison cut a deal with the district and the Maulhardt family to bury the lines along Rose Avenue in a 15-foot-wide stretch of their property.

The city approved several drafts of those plans in spring of 2023, Rozell said, with final approval in November.

McCoy said the district began work on the electrical installation in December, and after winter rain delays, hopes to connect to power and wrap up the project by July 31.

Air quality

Through much of that entire process, Del Sol High's trio of generators have rumbled, keeping the school running.

McCoy said the district conducts monthly air quality and noise tests near the generators. The engines got early noise complaints from neighbors, McCoy said, but none since wrapping the generators in noise blankets in November 2022.

But the district could still be on the hook for the generators' environmental impact.

Grennan, the pollution control district spokesperson, said in an April 26 email that the generators are allowed to run without a permit for up to 180 operating days, as long as they follow state regulations.

She said an Oxnard Union representative reached out to the county agency in January 2023 to ask about permitting requirements.

The district was allowed to continue running the generators after the 180-day cap, Grennan wrote, as long as it had an extension from the county agency. As of late April, the district had not requested an extension.

By Wednesday morning, communication between Oxnard Union and the county pollution control district had reopened.

McCoy said by phone Wednesday morning that the county agency had been trying to contact Oxnard Union via an old, unused email address and that the district expects a "renewed permit" by Friday.

But in an email later on Wednesday, Grennan said the county agency could not renew any permit because it never issued one. An inspector visited the campus on Wednesday morning and told the school district it needed a permit, Grennan wrote, but did not tell the school officials the process could be completed by Friday.

Penalties, Grennan said, will be forthcoming.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Diesel generators power Oxnard's Del Sol High as costs, pollution grow