Lodi residents push back as PG&E project sparks concerns about historic cemetery

Pacific Gas and Electric is moving forward with plans to establish new power lines and steel towers just outside the Lodi Memorial Cemetery.

But this has sparked some concern, as some documents by the California Public Utilities Commission have misdated parts of the cemetery and have deemed it unhistoric. Locals say otherwise.

It all started with trees needing to be removed and turned into something much bigger.

Ralph Clark is the founder of Historical Guild 209. He knows all about the history of Lodi and beyond.

So when a resident posted on his social media page, saying PG&E needed to remove some trees at the Lodi Memorial Cemetery for a project, it sparked some concern.

"PG&E had the intention to put high transmission power lines in this area," Clark said. "While the tree issue is kind of taken care of, we're more concerned with the inaccuracies in the report and how it might affect the cemetery in the future."

Potter's Field in the cemetery was established in the late 1800s and holds countless people tied to the origins of Lodi. But Clark and others say the report by the California Public Utilities Commission is inaccurate.

Take the old mausoleum for an example.

"It was built in 1928, but they have it listed parts of the building listed as built later, as late as 1993," he said. "The dates are wrong, photos are wrong, so we just want to make sure we have a correct the record so that we can not have this affect us in the future."

This raised many red flags for Clark, knowing all too well how this incorrect information can cause major issues in the future.

"We've seen this happen before with other buildings in town, and that the paperwork gets kind of jostled, so that way a certain result can happen," Clark said. "So we just want to make sure that's not the case here for our Lodi Memorial Cemetery, that is historic by all measures and all marks."

From Civil War veterans to others lost to time, it's a place of rest, and people who want to preserve Lodi history want to keep it that way.

"We just urge that the California Public Utilities Commission take another look, talk to our historians about it, talk to our experts," Clark said. "We'll play ball and do everything we can and get the real story out and correct the record, and then we can go from there, and then we can find a solution."

The nonprofit is also hoping to help make the cemetery an official historical site. In the meantime, we reached out to CPUC about the dates and if they will be fixed, but we have yet to hear back.