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Life Under the Lines

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By Felix Sanchez, Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif.

Mar. 20--LONG BEACH -- Annika Knoppel knows that medical research has refuted the fears that living or working anywhere near high-voltage power lines causes health problems.

But excuse her if she holds on to one other belief: The electrical lines have the magical power to make plants and trees grow better.

With the numbers of nurseries and wholesale gardens and palm tree lots found under the miles of high-voltage electrical transmission lines around the Long Beach and Los Angeles area, maybe there's something to it.

Actually, though, it's just a common practice developed by Southern California Edison, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and power companies around the country to lease out vacant right-of-way land located directly beneath the giant spans and wiring.

Stretching along the San Gabriel River and the 605 (San Gabriel) Freeway, north of the 91 (Riverside) Freeway and up and down the 710 (Long Beach) Freeway and the Los Angeles River, miles of land under the electrical spans are used by dozens of businesses whose need for a lot of empty space with just handfuls of workers make them ideal to locate there.

Knoppel owns and operates the 10-acre Garden of Eva Inc. nursery just north of the 91 Freeway, on Atlantic Avenue near 70th Street.

There's also Vargas Nursery, Jaurequi Nursery, Las Marias Nursery, Quality Growers, Martinez Nursery, Salco Growers, Okada Nursery, H & H Nursery, Palm Trees Wholesale, OC Nursery Inc. and the City of Lakewood Community Gardens, among others in Long Beach, Lakewood, Bellflower, Artesia and Cerritos.

Vault Self-Storage, the Lakewood Maintenance Yard and the Lakewood Equestrian Center are other businesses that have set up shop under the transmission lines.

The S. Mark Taper Foundation's Vista Lodge, meanwhile, is part of an ongoing effort by Lakewood to develop passive open space along the west bank of the San Gabriel River, adjacent to power line rights-of-way, and extend the existing River Parkway Nature Trail.

Two years ago, Knoppel obtained ownership of Garden of Eva on a 10-acre parcel, at 6850 Atlantic Ave.

Unlike many of the nurseries on the rights-of-way that focus on wholesale sales of small trees and shrubs and landscaping plants, Garden of Eva (www.gofeinc.com), which she named for her sister, specializes in perennial plants that are native to California, the Mediterranean and Australia.

Knoppel has about 1,500 different varieties of plants and sells mostly wholesale to other local nurseries and contractors. But on Saturdays, the nursery is open to the public and there's always a clearance section where the straggler who comes in can find select items below wholesale price.

A right-of-way business needs to have just a handful of workers and materials that do not easily go up in flames, Knoppel said.

Liability and danger from power lines that fall down set the restrictions. Plus the power companies need 24/7 access to their lines and towers so businesses with easy access also are a plus.

"It's a win-win for both Edison and us," Knoppel said. "We maintain the property. We have to keep it free of weeds. If you go by the sites where they aren't in use, you see a lot of weeds growing."

Knoppel said her business is a labor of love and the unique setting, under towering scaffolding and surging electrical lines, is simply that unusual. There's no feeling of danger, either, she said.

Studies as late as 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council on power frequency magnetic fields caused by high-voltage lines concludes there is no evidence that shows exposure to the fields is a human health hazard.

But, says Knoppel, "I can't really prove it, but I'd like to think plants grow better under here."

Craig Luna, manager of real estate for the LADWP said it's a common practice for utility companies to lease the right-of-way under transmission lines for businesses.

Los Angeles lines have nurseries, parking lots, vehicle storage facilities and trucking operations underneath, Luna said. The utility is also deciding whether to allow self-storage businesses in as well, he said.

The focus is on businesses that have a minimal number of people on site and fit zoning restrictions in the surrounding city. Leases are in five-year increments, and are usually bid out, Luna said.

The transmission lines for LADWP can have anywhere from 230 kilovolts to 500 kilovolts coursing through them, Luna said.

Gil Alexander, an Edison spokesman, said its right-of-way policies are now under study and being updated, a process driven by a massive infrastructure replacement and expansion project.

Edison is investing about $9 billion in its power delivery grid because some of its components are reaching the end of their expected life -- some transmission lines and towers were built just after World War II and because of growing demand for power throughout Southern California, Alexander said.

Once Edison has finished studying the primary use of land, to provide electricity to customers, it will start looking at the secondary issues of how to use right-of-way land, Alexander said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif.

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Source: Press-Telegram

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