Dec. 29--ESCONDIDO -- San Diego Gas & Electric has inserted itself into the debate over Palomar Pomerado Health's plans to build its flagship medical campus in an Escondido business park, less than a quarter mile from a 550-megawatt power plant.

SDG&E spokesman Ed Van Herik said Wednesday that energy company representatives have held meetings with several Escondido City Council members this month, anticipating that the council soon will consider whether to rezone the business park to allow the hospital. Public hearings on the rezoning proposal are expected to begin early next year.

"Like any good neighbor, we've been talking to council (members) about the issues that might possibly arise from having a hospital next to a power plant," Van Herik said. "At this point, our purpose is to see they are informed about (our) issues."

According to Van Herik and council members, SDG&E wants to make sure there are no environmental conflicts between the power plant and hospital, and that safety issues related to helicopter flight paths, noise and air quality are addressed.

Van Herik said the energy company also plans to meet with Palomar Pomerado officials sometime after the holiday. Asked what measures SDG&E might seek from the health district, Van Herik said it would be "premature to speculate on what might evolve from that meeting."

Palomar Pomerado spokesman Andy Hoang said that, so far, SDG&E had not contacted the district, adding, "We are eager to sit down with them to go over (our environmental) report and to go over any concerns they may have."

Palomar Pomerado intends to build a $690 million hospital in the Escondido Research and Technology Center, a 186-acre business park southwest of the Interstate 15 and Highway 78 interchange. Sempra Energy, which is building the power plant that SDG&E will own and operate, expects to complete its project this summer.

Among the potential issues raised by the hospital's proximity to the power plant is whether the power lines that ring the area would present a significant hazard to helicopter pilots using the medical center's landing pad, Van Herik said.

The hospital project's environmental report, which Palomar Pomerado's board adopted earlier this month, stated that no significant safety hazard existed, because the proposed tower on which the landing pad would be located is anticipated to be 44 feet higher than the power lines. And there is no suggestion that the power lines themselves might endanger the health of patients.

Palomar Pomerado's environmental report also concluded that the power plant posed no air quality, hazardous material or other safety issues to the medical campus.

Van Herik declined to list any additional matters his company intends to raise with hospital officials. But he said, "The proposed location of the hospital is a concern. And if the hospital had been there first, we would not have requested a permit to build a power plant (in the park)."

State regulators have said that any environmental conflicts between the hospital and power plant uses need to be resolved by the energy company, health district and city.

City Councilmen Ed Gallo and Sam Abed, who met with SDG&E officials this week, said they understand there are also issues regarding how noise from the plant's round-the-clock operations would affect the hospital.

A California Energy Commission report released last week concluded that noise from the power plant's operations would barely be audible inside the hospital.

Another matter that needs to be resolved, they said, involves the layout of the medical campus, including its air-conditioning system. Abed said his understanding is that, if the air-conditioning intake is not properly placed, it could suck in exhaust from the power plant.

Gallo said he did not believe SDG&E's concerns are insurmountable. But, he said, they need to be addressed before the council can decide whether to approve the health district's request for a zoning change.

Key to resolving them, Gallo said, will be deciding who will foot the bill for any safety measures that need to be taken.

"I'm not sticking up for a public utility," Gallo said. "But when you're there first, why should you have to go through added expenses because somebody goes there after you?"

Building costs for Palomar Pomerado's districtwide expansion plan already have escalated from an estimated $753 million to nearly $1 billion, based on rising construction and equipment costs, district officials recently reported.

And the district and city are still negotiating the details of a compromise plan reached after Gallo, Abed and Councilwoman Marie Waldron initially opposed Palomar Pomerado's plans to build in the park. The trio had contended that using the business park for medical facilities would sap land that could be used for high-tech jobs.

In exchange for allowing the hospital there, the council majority asked Palomar Pomerado to pay for the expansion of Citracado Parkway and other road improvements near the business center, at a potential cost of $26 million. The city also asked the district to sign a development agreement committing to renovations at Palomar Medical Center in downtown Escondido.

Abed said he now expects SDG&E's concerns to be answered as well as the city's demands before he will vote to approve the hospital's permits.

"The rush is always, if you delay us, it's going to cost us more," Abed said of Palomar Pomerado's push to complete the permitting process as quickly as possible. "I think PPH has to do due diligence to ensure the safety of the people."

Meanwhile, Councilman Ron Newman, who spoke with SDG&E last week, said he was a bit curious as to why the power company would contact the council before raising its concerns with the health district.

"It would seem to me that, if you have an issue, that the primary people you would deal with on the issue wouldn't be the political body, but the people in charge of the structure," Newman said.

"My God! We're a political body," he added. "We don't have any expertise in how to fly helicopters."