Team Effort Helps Affordable Housing in Solano County Across the Finish Line

The Solano Affordable Housing Foundation faced a worst-case scenario. 

By December 2023, the foundation had completed six of 10 buildings in its Marina Village community in Suisun City (Solano County). The 160-apartment affordable-housing project was ready to serve households earning between 30% and 70% of the area’s median income. It was on schedule to finish its last four buildings by Oct. 31, 2024 — a deadline that would mark the community’s completion and make the foundation eligible for the tax credits that made Marina Village possible.  

A month later, disaster struck: Thieves stole electric equipment to connect the final four buildings to PG&E’s grid. The four sets of switchgear, which included circuit breakers, fuses and other devices to ensure safe and reliable power, would take up to a year and cost millions of dollars for the developer to replace. 

PG&E couldn’t start the complicated and time-consuming work of providing power to the final four buildings until the buildings’ new gear was installed. Without power, the buildings wouldn’t get their certificate of occupancy to welcome tenants. 

At stake for the foundation was the loss of developer-fee revenue totaling $1.5 million—equivalent to 105% of its annual operating budget. 

What’s more, the project’s risk insurance would run out at the end of October. 

Foundation Executive Director Don Harris called the setback an “extreme financial strain as we continue our efforts to develop affordable housing.” 

PG&E industrial power engineer Mike Harvey also felt urgency to complete the new-service connection. 

“Affordable-housing projects have strict timelines given the tax credits involved,” said Harvey, who’s worked for PG&E’s Service Planning & Design team in Sacramento for five years. “Everything needs to line up for them to be successful. Marina Village had a really unfortunate incident with the theft of switchgear. Affordable housing is a top priority for the state and for PG&E, and we want to step up anytime we can help a customer receiving power for affordable housing.” 

Making Marina Village happen would require constant communication and nimble coordination. 

‘Whatever it takes’ 

Marina Village’s switchgear maker wouldn’t have replacements ready until September 2024—leaving PG&E a matter of weeks to design, build and connect four multifamily buildings before Oct. 31. That would be a month less than the work would typically need. 

Finishing ahead of the deadline would require constant communication and nimble coordination. 

To enable timely work scheduling, Harvey stayed in touch with the project’s general contractor, the John Stewart Co. of San Francisco, for intel on when exactly the switchgear would arrive. 

Harvey also had to work with PG&E’s Division and General Construction teams to get Marina Village on their packed schedule. 

“We don’t have a lot of give in the schedule at that time of year,” Harvey said. “Our budget allows a certain amount of new-service work each year, and we’re usually fully booked in the fourth quarter.” 

Harvey connected with PG&E’s Vacaville Division construction team to discuss Marina Village’s issues. The team agreed to assign crews to build the new-service connection on Oct. 18. 

Then, another hurdle. 

PG&E called a Public Safety Power Shutoff in the Sacramento and Central valleys from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20 due to high winds and extreme fire danger. 

The crews scheduled to connect Marina Village would instead be inspecting and repairing power lines following the wind storm. 

Harvey again coordinated with the Vacaville-based construction team to reschedule the work, this time for Oct. 23. 

The Sacramento-based Field Metering team would also work above and beyond their fully booked schedule to install and connect 82 individual electric meters. The team, led by crew leaders Rodney Crowder and Evan Wright, rearranged previously scheduled work and worked on weekends to complete the job on Oct. 26. 

“Marina Village was designed to assist people in a way that is especially needed at this time,” Crowder said of the team’s commitment to finishing the job on the customer’s timeline. 

The Solano Affordable Housing Foundation obtained final certificates of occupancy from Suisun City and signed leases with residents on Oct. 30 — a day ahead of its deadline. 

In a note to Harvey, Harris thanked him for “going above and beyond” at Marina Village. 

“I cannot begin to comprehend the complexities and logistics that your organization must face daily, and I realize that it must come with a lot of challenges and stress,” Harris wrote. 

Dave Weisbrod, Service Planning Manager in PG&E’s North Valley and Sierra Region, called the project a “total team effort” that included the Solano Affordable Housing Foundation’s representative; the John Stewart Co.; and PG&E’s Metering, Division Construction and General Construction teams. 

Weisbrod noted that the Vacaville Division Construction team completed the energization buildout on top of their already-scheduled work. 

“The entire GC team understood the desperate need to energize these buildings, and the financial implications for the customer if we fell short,” he said. 

For Harvey, it was all in a day’s — or several months’ — work. 

“Everyone was committed to helping this customer meet their crucial timelines,” he said. “That speaks to the relationship PG&E has with our development community and our ability to assist our customers. That really is the main purpose of the service-planning rep — we’re in customer service and we do whatever it takes to assist our customers.” 

(Crews with PG&E’s Sacramento-based General Construction team stand with Solano Affordable Housing Foundation Executive Director Don Harris at the Marina Village affordable housing neighborhood in Suisun City. From right to left: Austin Edmonton, Eli Hammam, Anthony Vasconez, Don Harris, Jarrett Leak and Anthony Stickle.)