The City of San Rafael, Department of Public Works and Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) have worked together to create a more streamlined process for PG&E permit applications. The City of San Rafael granted a Programmatic Encroachment Permit to PG&E to perform routine maintenance, operations and wildfire mitigation work in City rights-of-way. The permit modifies how the City will issue permits to PG&E for routine maintenance in the future. Most notably, the permit expedites turnaround time for City approval of routine maintenance projects performed by PG&E on electric/gas infrastructure.
PG&E maintenance projects represent 1/3 of all encroachment permit applications received by the DPW encroachment permitting team each year. As a result, the new streamlined permitting process introduced in July 2021 has already made a significant impact, helping the permitting team improve efficiency and responsiveness. The permit has a 1-year duration (July 2021-July 2022). DPW hopes to renew the permit on an annual basis with PG&E.