June 2, 2014
California

Edison runs into lawsuits over land

Champion Newspapers | Published: Sunday, June 1, 2014 | www.championnewspapers.com

Southern California Edison has filed 44 eminent domain lawsuits as it seeks to bury 500-kilovolt transmission lines of the Tehachapi project across Chino Hills.

Most of the suits are against residents of Chino Hills and Chino. Some of the residents are fighting back.

The suits were filed against residents of Garden Court and Alder Place in Chino Hills and Chino residents of Yellowstone Circle. Other suits target the Promenade shopping center where Bravo Burger is located, and landowner Darmal-Kamari, which seeks to develop 16 homes in the area.

Kimhai Mullins of Yellowstone Circle in Chino, who will be left with 18 inches of backyard, joined a group of Garden Court residents in their lawsuit.

Ms. Mullins said the group’s attorney has told her not to talk with the press.

But Yellowstone Circle resident Karen Goodwin, former wife of Hope for the Hills president Bob Goodwin, has plenty to say.

Hope for the Hills is the group that forced Edison to remove the 200-foot towers and bury the lines in Chino Hills.

Ms. Goodwin is one of several residents in both cities whose property will become a “legal non-conforming land use” because the lot size will shrink to an area smaller than city code requires. Setbacks will also become non-conforming because of the amount of land taken by Edison.

Ms. Goodwin said Edison will put up a fence 12 inches from her house, essentially taking away her back yard.

She retained her own attorney, apart from the group’s attorney.

Ms. Goodwin said Edison notified her mortgage company about the take. “My mortgage company notified me they will take whatever money I get from Edison and apply it to my principal,” she said. “So if I need to make my house livable and conforming to code, I wouldn’t have access to that money,” she said.

The mortgage company hired an attorney and told her she would have to pay his bill too, she said.

Ms. Goodwin said she came home two weeks ago and found a stake in her back yard bearing a large envelope filled with court documents. A business card was attached bearing the name Andrew M. Jones, attorney for Edison’s law department.

“How dare they come into my back yard?” she said. “This is nothing other than harassment. It made me think of the KKK putting a cross in front of somebody’s house, letting them know you’re a target.”

Contamination

Lawsuits are only part of the challenge facing Edison as it attempts to bury the 500 kV lines in Chino Hills.

Edison’s finance and licensing executives told the state in a May 21 telephone conference that they expect to award the construction contract in two weeks, but . . .For MORE click HERE to login

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/06/02/edison-runs-into-lawsuits-over-land/

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