TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Erick Lee, Public Works Director
Katherine Doherty, City Engineer
Jeff Fijalka, Senior Civil Engineer
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of Recommendations for the Prioritization of Future Underground Utility Assessment Districts and Discussion of the Results from the 2023 Utility Undergrounding Survey (Public Works Director Lee).
(Estimated Time: 30 Mins.)
DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
Body
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RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council:
A. Consider recommendations for the prioritization of future Underground Utility Assessment Districts (UUAD); and
B. Receive and file the results of the 2023 UUAD Survey.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no direct fiscal implications associated with this item.
BACKGROUND:
In September 2017, City Council approved a request from staff to revive the City’s utility undergrounding program that had been placed in an unofficial moratorium several years earlier during an economic downturn. Since that time, numerous property owners have contacted the City requesting to have their neighborhood added to the list of areas to be considered for future undergrounding projects.
In July 2022, City Council authorized a biennial survey to assess the level of interest in utility undergrounding and to understand the distribution of that interest throughout the areas of potential future undergrounding. The first of these surveys was carried out by City staff during fall 2023.
The survey mailed to property owners contained a single question asking if the owner would be in favor of having the utilities on their block placed underground if the cost to the owner was in the range of $30,000 to $60,000. The survey form provided some general information about the utility undergrounding program, and it also noted that some properties with overhead utility connections might need to perform additional work on their private property, which could add another $10,000 to $20,000 to the property owner’s total cost.
Property owners were given the option to complete the survey online or to submit the completed survey form in person, via email, or through standard mail delivery.
The survey area encompassed all previously proposed undergrounding districts as well as the areas where property owners have contacted the City to express an interest in undergrounding. All of the 4,209 parcels included in the 2023 survey area are located west of Sepulveda Boulevard, with the majority of them west of Pacific Avenue, as indicated on the attached Survey Area Map. Completed undergrounding districts and those currently in the design process were excluded from the survey area.
DISCUSSION:
Survey Results
The City received 1,734 survey responses, representing 41 percent of the parcels surveyed. Of the responses received, 47 percent indicated support for utility undergrounding, while 53 percent expressed opposition.
Individual responses were mapped on a per-parcel basis to allow an assessment of the spatial distribution of support for, and opposition to, undergrounding. The survey area was then divided into sub-areas according to physical constraints (e.g. the Veterans Parkway, arterial/collector roadways, utility pole configurations, etc.). Sub-areas were further divided by grouping blocks with similar levels of support for undergrounding.
The percentage of respondents in favor of undergrounding was calculated for each refined sub-area, and the results are presented in the attached Map of Survey Results. Sub-areas highlighted in green indicate potential districts with the strongest support for undergrounding. These districts have the most potential to obtain sufficient petition signatures to advance an undergrounding project to the design phase.
Projects requesting design funding from the City must gather petition signatures from 66 percent of the property owners within the proposed district. According to the survey results, eight potential districts have at least 60 percent support for undergrounding. These districts vary in size from 15 to 230 parcels.
Future District Prioritization
City staff currently maintains a list of individuals who have requested to have overhead utilities on their block placed underground. The list contains more than forty names of property owners from over a dozen different neighborhoods.
To date, there has not been a way to prioritize the list of potential undergrounding districts by likelihood of successfully forming districts. However, the recently obtained survey data may be used for this purpose. Prioritizing the list according to the expressed level of property owner support would ensure that staff time and City funds are expended on undergrounding districts that have the greatest likelihood of success. Similarly, the ranked list would allow staff to provide candid feedback about the likelihood of undergrounding to property owners who reside in areas with very low overall support for forming an undergrounding district.
Minimum District Size
Southern California Edison requires that utility undergrounding projects formed according to the California Public Utilities Commission Rule 20B (Rule 20 Projects) must include at least of one full street block or an overhead utility span of at least 600 linear feet. The City’s underground district formation policy does not include a minimum project size. However, the nine Rule 20 Projects previously approved by City Council generally contained between 100 and 200 parcels per district.
The responses to the 2023 survey suggest that there are a limited number of remaining areas with the potential to garner the 66 percent property owner support needed to obtain the advance of City funding for project designs. This finding is not altogether surprising, given that the majority of the areas that have historically shown the most fervent support for undergrounding (i.e. the Sand Section and the Hill Section) have already been undergrounded or are already in the process of doing so. As a result, if the City desires to continue to reduce the number of overhead utility lines throughout residential areas, City Council may need to consider facilitating the formation of undergrounding districts that are significantly smaller than the 100+ parcel districts that have formed in the past.
One such potential smaller district is the 1300 block of Voorhees Avenue. Although outside the limits of the survey area, the City has recently received requests from multiple property owners on the south side of the 1300 block of Voorhees Avenue to start a utility undergrounding project. Many of these owners strongly desire to underground the overhead utility lines that run through the middle of their properties, effectively dividing the properties in half and reducing their development potential. A single branch of overhead utilities serves the sixteen parcels along the south side of the street. Fifteen of the parcel owners, or about 94 percent, support an undergrounding project.
Conclusion
Staff recommends that the City Council direct staff to prioritize the list of potential new districts to reflect the areas where property owners show the most support for utility undergrounding. For reference, a version of the interest list sorted according to survey response data is provided as an attachment. Furthermore, staff recommends that the City should consider forming smaller undergrounding districts when the surrounding areas lack the support needed to form a larger undergrounding district.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
A paper survey was mailed to the owner of each parcel located within the area identified on the Survey Area Map. Information about the survey is posted on the UUAD web page on the City’s website. Additionally, a notice was mailed to all property owners within the survey area to notify them of this agenda item.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City reviewed the proposed activities for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and determined that undergrounding overhead utility systems qualify for a Categorical Exemption pursuant to Sections 15302(d) and 15303(d) (Conversion of overhead electric utility distribution system facilities to underground, and conversion of existing small structures to small new equipment and facilities in small structures) of the State CEQA Guidelines. Thus, no further environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. 2023 UUAD Survey Form
2. UUAD Survey Area Map
3. Map of UUAD Survey Results
4. Utility Undergrounding Interest List
5. PowerPoint Presentation