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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Power, Plant Dispute

The abrupt end of a business relationship after nearly 30 years would likely come as a shock to anyone. It was definitely the case for Tom Lucas, owner of Performance Nursery in Moorpark, when he received a letter from Southern California Edison telling him to vacate the land beneath its power lines that he has occupied for 28 years. The 12777 Tierra Rejada Road nursery has more than 460,000 plants on the property, where Lucas maintains he has been a good tenant for decades. But Edison claims Lucas has failed to fulfill the obligations of his license agreement and has been cited for scores of infractions. The July 29 eviction letter gave him until Oct. 15 to vacate the property – little more than 75 days, which Lucas said is simply not enough time. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Lucas, 54. “I feel like I am doing everything right. This is basically a death sentence on all of my plants.” Rudy Gonzales, regional manager for the Rosemead-based utility, said the company gave Lucas significantly more time than required, based on the terms of the contract. The license agreement gives both the property owner and the tenant the right to end the relationship with or without cause as long as they give a 30-day notice. “The (notice to) vacate had to do with the safety of both Edison employees and the neighboring community,” Gonzales said. “Mr. Lucas is not being singled out; if we had similar situations in other nurseries we would take similar action.” Lucas is not the first nursery owner to have had to vacate utility property quickly after a dispute. In 2010, Edison cancelled a five-year license agreement with nursery owner Roman Gallo for multiple locations, mostly in the San Gabriel Valley. Gallo had been renting from Edison for nearly 27 years and his nursery had nearly 80 acres of land with more than $10 million in plant stock. Todd Nathanson, president of Encino brokerage illi Commercial Real Estate, said there are definite disadvantages to renting from utility companies, such as restrictions to ensure the safety of the power lines and the month-to-month lease. But the price for renting such land often outweighs the negatives because the cost is often a fraction of what the acreage would cost elsewhere. “These tenants go into the situation knowing it’s not permanent,” Nathanson said. “But I can see after 28 years how someone could think that this day would never come.” Counting infractions Lucas entered the license agreement for the Moorpark property in 1987. The agreement, similar to a lease, guaranteed him the use of 42 acres beneath the power lines. But since that time, Edison has issued Performance Nursery a total of 60 infractions, averaging almost two citations a year, except for 2013, when it received no citations. In an Aug. 6 letter issued by Edison attorney Jeff Renzi, he detailed the infractions, which included late payments, the impermissible storage of personal property and dead plants, failure to do routine weed abatement, and several fires on the property. The letter stated the infractions threatened the utility’s ability to provide safe and reliable electricity. Keith Jajko, a consultant who has represented Lucas during the dispute, said the business had been running smoothly with no complaints throughout last year. And then five complaints streamed in since May. “What they fail to realize is operating a nursery on 42 acres is not easy and comes with challenges daily. There are issues to monitor and laws to abide by,” Jajko said. “To have no citations last year is a big deal; and even the ones issued in May (were) not extraordinary.” Jajko said Lucas has attended to each complaint as swiftly as possible. In an attempt to decrease the plant stock and possibility of fire, the nursery spent about $50,000 to mulch trees on the site, destroying 433 trees ranging from 6 feet to 20 feet tall. Had these trees been sold to contractors as planned, they would have brought in nearly $188,000, according to Jajko. Community support Lucas is fighting to remain on the property. A neighbor started a petition on his behalf on the website Change.org in hopes of collecting enough signatures to cause Edison to reconsider and allow Performance Nursery to remain on site. It has so far received nearly 950 signatures, not including 100 signatures on printed petitions Lucas has collected. At a minimum, Lucas is trying to persuade Edison to extend his deadline. He is requesting that the utility abide by the remainder of their current license agreement, which runs until April 2016. He owns a total of four nurseries, two others in Redondo Beach and one in Somis. Given enough time, Lucas said he can relocate a large number of the plants and employees to other facilities. If Edison does not push the deadline back, Lucas will lose approximately $8 million in plant stock. He also fears the 32 employees will lose their jobs. “If I can’t relocate, I’ll be out of business,” he said. “I’m not letting any employees go if I have the time to move my plants. I need three to five years to move the nursery.” Gonzales, the Edison spokesman, said the utility is hoping it can accommodate the nursery’s need for more time to move, but it will not rescind its eviction order. “(Mr. Lucas has) made it clear that (the original deadline) is not near enough time to vacate,” Gonzales said. “We are having conversations and we hope we’ll be able to come upon an agreement that will provide Mr. Lucas the amount of time he needs.”

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