Will Morro Bay keep iconic power plant stacks? Here’s what City Council decided
After towering over Morro Bay since the 1950s, the landmark power plant smoke stacks will be removed within the next six years, the City Council decided.
On Oct. 26, the council voted 4-1 not to exercise an option to retain the stacks under an agreement with the property owner, energy company Vistra Corp.
Councilman Jeff Heller dissented, citing the potential future use of the stacks by a private operator.
The decision clears the way for Vistra to now remove the structures by a deadline of Jan. 1, 2028, or pay the city a $3 million penalty.
Morro Bay city manager Scott Collins said he expects Vistra to remove the stacks, as well as the defunct power plant building, as a way to unlock investment potential for new business revenue streams by repurposing the land.
Vistra has proposed a 600-megawatt battery storage project, which still must complete a multi-agency planning process, on a different part of the property from where the plant and stacks are located.
The former Morro Bay Power Plant closed in 2014, and the stacks and plant building haven’t been used since.
Collins said the council authorized sending a letter to Vistra informing the company of the council’s decision and moving forward with discussing a proposal to honor the history with a monument or point of interest should the structures come down.
Collins said the council carefully considered input on the historic value of the structures — often linked to images, logos, business names and marketing that mentions “three stacks and a rock” — that have helped shape Morro Bay’s identity.
“The main rationale for the council to proceed with not continuing to retain them is too much cost, liability and weighing the other infrastructure costs and needs Morro Bay has citywide,” Collins said.
Morro Bay considers keeping stacks
In a staff report, city officials noted that “there could be significant fiscal impact to the city” if it pursued keeping the stacks.
“Retention of the stacks could lead to a transfer of stack expenses and liabilities to the city of Morro Bay from Vistra Corp.,” the staff report noted. “That could include higher insurance costs, annual maintenance costs upwards of $30,000 a year, one-time capital costs of up to $750,000 and financial responsibility for the city to tear down in the future, at a cost of several million dollars.”
Collins said that keeping them likely would require installing caps on their tops at around $250,000 apiece.
Rough estimated costs to remove the structures altogether are around $2 million per stack, Collins said.
Despite concerns from some that Vistra could choose to pay the $3 million penalty, because of the lesser expense than demolition, Collins said the city opted strategically to negotiate the agreement as it did because it wasn’t equipped to take on the responsibility of the stacks.
Before entering into the agreement with Vistra, the city had an option to take ownership of the property for $1 in 2033 from Vistra if the stacks weren’t removed.
“The city is not a developer or a utility,” Collins said. “How do we generate enough funds to take on something of this scale?”
The city held a community forum on Sept. 8 to discuss the “Facts about the Stacks,” breaking down the pros and cons of the future of the stacks.
The city also has received dozens of community emails on the issue.
The Tribune received nearly 400 responses to a reader poll on whether to keep or remove the stacks earlier this year, with a majority favoring taking them down.
As of Oct. 29, 229 people had said “Ditch them — they’re eyesores” and 157 said “Keep them — they’re iconic.” Six respondents said they didn’t care either way.
“I think any desire to keep them is nostalgia,” one reader commented. “They are a distraction from the real natural beauty of the rock. It would be different if they served a purpose, but they don’t anymore.”
“Morro Bay would not look the same without them,” another person said. “I used to live there and driving into Morro it was always the first thing you see and that made you feel like you were home.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 5:26 PM.
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