Citations
- 41 Cal. App. 4th 209
Full opinion text
Opinion
KLEIN, P. J.
Defendants and appellants City of Vernon (Vernon) and Victor H. Vaits, Vernon’s director of community services (Vaits) (sometimes collectively referred to as Vernon), appeal a judgment granting a petition for writ of mandate sought by plaintiff and respondent Southern California Gas Company (the Gas Company).
The essential issue presented is whether Vernon can purport to regulate the design and construction of a proposed gas pipeline, notwithstanding the California Public Utilities Commission’s (the PUC) regulatory power in this area.
Because the regulation of pipeline safety is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the PUC, and Vernon did not object to the pipeline on the limited grounds available to it under the franchise it granted the Gas Company, the judgment is affirmed.
Factual and Procedural Background
The Gas Company is a privately owned public utility subject to regulation by the PUC. The Gas Company holds a franchise to lay and use pipes and appurtenances beneath Vernon’s streets for transmitting and distributing gas. The franchise was granted in 1947 in Vernon Municipal Ordinance No. 607 and is for an indefinite term.
As part of a program to upgrade its regional gas service facilities, the Gas Company has embarked on replacement of various pre-World War II pipelines in the Los Angeles area. Among those is pipeline 765, running from Long Beach to Glendale. A portion of the route for pipeline runs through Vernon. The Gas Company succeeded in obtaining permits necessary to route new pipeline 765 under city streets in Glendale, Los Angeles, May-wood, Bell, Huntington Park, Cudahy, South Gate, Lynwood, Compton, Long Beach and unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.
On May 11, 1992, the Gas Company submitted a formal application to Vernon for an encroachment permit for a proposed routing under Alcoa Avenue.
On May 28, 1992, the Gas Company submitted a second application for an encroachment permit for an alternative route along Downey Road. The Gas Company was advised Downey Road was the preferable route.
Vernon did not issue a permit for either route. In a June 11, 1992 meeting, Vernon advised the Gas Company its “applications failed to satisfy City requirements in certain respects. Those deficiencies included failing to specify strengthened backfill, proposing to cut the pavement of a newly installed street, proposing a shallow depth for the gas pipeline, and failing to provide for an interconnection with the City’s distribution system.”
On June 22, 1992, the Gas Company filed an appeal with the Vernon City Council for issuance of an encroachment permit.
On June 24, 1992, the Gas Company filed a petition for writ of mandate to direct Vernon to issue either of the encroachment permits for which it had applied.
On July 24, 1992, the trial court denied the petition without prejudice on the ground the Gas Company had not exhausted its administrative remedies.
The Central Basin Municipal Water District (the Water District) filed a complaint in intervention in the mandate proceeding, contending that it, and not the Gas Company, was entitled to an encroachment permit for the installation of a reclaimed water pipeline in Downey Road.
By a letter dated October 1, 1992, the Gas Company again appealed to the Vernon City Council for issuance of an encroachment permit. The city council held a public hearing on October 29, 1992, and on November 10, 1992, issued its decision in Resolution No. 6180.
In the resolution, Vernon denied the appeal on the following grounds: “1. As of October 1, 1992, the date the appeal was filed, the Gas Company’s application and required drawings were deficient and incomplete. [