-June 8,2022-
EIR for battery storage facility underway
On June 3 the City of Morro Bay launched their Notice of Preparation for the formal EIR covering construction of the proposed Vistra Battery Energy StorageSystems (BESS) facility.The plan says the 24 acre portion of the site will consist of three two-story buildings with a total building area of 91,000 sq ft.
The City of Morro Bay is moving forward with an agreement with Vistra Energy, which promised last year to convert the old power plant yard into the world’s largest battery storage facility. Vistra’s $500 million proposed project would also cover the cost of taking down the stacks and removing the power plant’s existing turbine, both built using hazardous materials. City Community Development Director Scot Graham says he expects the stacks could fall as soon as 2023 but Vistra now says it might wait until the BESS is completed . It could 2 years to do the demo. The battery storage is located away from the power building and stacks on the former oil tank yard that was cleared a few year ago. The distance means the stacks and building do not have to come down to construct the battery storage units. Total acreage for the procjt is 95 acres.The Morro Bay Power Plant was operational on the parcel since the 1950s but has been idle since its retirement in 2014.
Construction of the BESS is anticipated to take 36 to 48 months.
Battery storage is used to store energy during off-peak hours when energy usage/demand is lower and dispatch stored energy on an as-needed basis during peak demand hours. This technology reduces the amount of fossil fuels consumed during peak hours and maximizes usage of energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar facilities that may not be able to produce energy during times of peak demand.The batteries are anticipated to have a 20-year life.
Regards the demolition work the document says asbestos containing materials have been identified by a Pre-Demolition Asbestos Containing Materials Survey completed in September 2019. Negative pressure containment tents would be erected inside the power building to make sure all asbestos materials can be contained and not expose areas outside to contamination. Asbestos abatement of the main structure would be performed by dividing the building into segments and would take approximately 9 to 12 months to complete. Demolition would not begin until the area has been abated for all asbestos and other hazardous materials. Work crews would consist of 50-75 workers and appropriate supervision and safety oversight. The Contractor and all employees would meet all California and Federal training requirements and have appropriate licenses/certifications. Required air monitoring would be completed by a Vistra-employed qualified contractor.
The contractor would provide on-site decontamination facilities for all workers and inspectors.
Demolition of the three 450 -ft stacks would occur following abatement of any regulated materials and demolition of any connecting ductwork. The stacks would be removed by conventional means without using explosives, one stack at a time. Screening would be used around the perimeter of the stack at the levels where concrete cutting is taking place to minimize airborne dust.
Demo and recycle of materials use could take 3500 trick trips says the notice.
Entrance to MB expected to attract new retail/restaurant
Just north the existing Morro Bay roundabout the City has been using an old gas station site for staging the construction of the wastewater treatment plant and its connecting pipelines.Most recently the site was used by a local U-Haul dealer ,now relocated. As the pipeline project nears an end City Community Development Director Scot Graham says he expects the site could be targeted by the owner to lease out to a tenant who would like like the highly visible and accessible site at the entrance to the this city. There are already three gas stations adjacent the roundabout making it likely a restaurant who might need a drive thru would be a candidate for this spot right off Highway 1.
Developer wants multi-family north of Highway 1 at South Bay Blvd
You may have noticed the 5-acre lot off Highway 1 near South Bay Blvd where vacant single-family parcels have been laid out but where year after yea r-nothing is built.The site is next to an Assisted Living facility.
Now owner and developer John Hinchey of Steiner Development wants to change the zoning on the plots to multi-family and looks to build up to 70 units north of the highway not far from the new WWT plantain the other side of the hill.
They call it Sea Shell Cove even though its not near the ocean and has nice of view – not of water but Back Hill to the south.
The project site includes ten existing parcels (ranging in size from 0.32 acres to 0.61 acres for a total project site size of 4.7 acres (gross). The land use and zoning designation changes would increase the allowable density of the project site from up to 4 dwelling units per acre to up to 27 dwelling units per acre.
The project has come in under the radar but Morro Bay residents seem to have awakened to the scale of the development.
One commentator- Carol Truesdale wrote the Planning Commission this week suggesting that “The increase from one home per lot (10 lots) to the following density of 7 homes per lot (total of 70 homes) is a huge jump: “Given these restrictions, the project site’s existing net buildable area for purposes of calculating density is 1.5 acres, or what would be 41 units under a high-density land use designation. The request to change the land use designation to high density is to facilitate a future multi-family residential project of up to 70 units.”