July 20, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Residents get sticker shock over utilities project

by Jocelyn Dong

When Ruth Brown opened an envelope from the City of Palo Alto Utilities in June, she got a jolt.

There in black and white was an estimate for more than $10,000, the cost to hook up her home to a proposed underground utility system the city wants to install.

"I thought, 'Holy you-know-what,'" Brown said. "I don't want to spend $10,000 to convert to underground."

Up and down Bryson Avenue her neighbors were opening their letters and receiving similar sticker shock. Mary Emard is a single mother who operates a daycare center in her home.

"Oh my Lord -- almost $6,000. ... I don't have that kind of money," she said. She also worried about the seniors on her block with fixed incomes.

Brown and Emard are part of the city's underground utility district No. 41, which stretches from Oregon Avenue to just past Colorado Avenue, and from Middlefield Road to Cowper Street in the Midtown neighborhood. It includes 175 residential and commercial properties.

Four decades ago, the City Council adopted a policy that all utilities on poles in the city should be put underground for the purpose of aesthetics, public health and safety.

These days, that system handles electricity, cable television and telephone lines.

So far, about 20 percent of Palo Alto has underground utilities, estimated Tomm Marshall, the city's electrical engineering manager. District No. 41 is the next in line. The project will take two years and remove 80 utility poles.

Last week, the City Council preliminarily voted to approve the work in district No. 41. It will vote a second time on the ordinance next week, as city protocol requires.

This past Monday, 16 Bryson-Avenue neighbors got together at Emard's home to plan a protest. With veggie dip and Jell-O sitting on the coffee table, resident Jack Barrie stood and read a statement he'd drafted Monday night. He wanted to stop the project altogether.

"We the property owners of Bryson Avenue wish to secede from underground utility district No. 41," he said. If not allowed to, then they would like to delay the installation -- or "we will take the city and council to court and fight this out."

His neighbors clapped. "Alright! Alright Jack!" Emard said, approving of his feistiness.

Others felt resigned to the project, though, and deemed it wiser to raise the alarm over the costs.

One man, financially strapped due to medical and other expenses, may have to sell his property, they noted.

The average cost is $5,000 for single-family homes, according to the city.

"It seems like the prices have gone up a lot for customers. In the last three years, it's gone up a lot," said Marshall, the city engineer.

Though the city takes bids for the work, very few utilities contractors are out there, he added. In the past, residents had to find their own electricians to hook up the utilities from the street to their homes. In district No. 41's case, the city got bids for one contractor to do all the work.

Webster Avenue resident Bill Birdsey, however, thinks there's a way to reduce costs: put the utilities underground in the rear of the property. About half of the district's utility poles are in backyard easements already. For those lots, keeping the connections there -- rather than moving them to the front yard, as the city proposes -- could save each resident thousands of dollars.

The city's estimate for Birdsey's property was $5,000 to $6,000. Putting the utility conduit in the rear, however, would cost only $2,000, he said.

And what of Barrie's hope to secede from the district?

According to Grant Kolling, senior assistant city attorney, there is a slim possibility that the council could exempt residents from the project. To do so, every resident of the block would need to petition the council for an exception, and demonstrate that the exception doesn't violate the purpose of the undergrounding policy; won't be detrimental to public interest, welfare or safety; and couldn't be considered a special privilege.

One Bryson resident canvassed the street and found 82 percent of the households were opposed to having the utilities put underground. But a city survey of the 175 households, taken this spring, showed more in favor. Of the 81 households that responded, 59 percent favored the plan; 28 percent opposed it; and 12 percent didn't care either way.

The residents, however, complained that the original letter looked like junk mail, and that the questionnaire failed to highlight just how much the project would cost.

Brown noted in an interview that the original cost estimate, outlined in the letter, didn't come close to the final cost. Brown's $10,000 bill is more than twice the first estimate because she lives on a flag lot, and the price is based on the distance from the street to the home.

Acknowledging the expense, Marshall said the utilities staff would present the council with a report on the costs, but didn't have an estimate on when that information would be ready.

It may not come in time for district No. 41, unless the council were to delay the undergrounding. Resident say they are willing to have it delayed, although some noted the irony that it may cost more later.

The city does offer 10-year loans to help foot the bill for the work. Neighbors shrugged at that offer, saying they would rather paint their houses and build new fences with the money that would go to the utilities work.

They know it may be difficult to change the council's mind, but they feel that it is worth it to voice their opinions.

"We're not dead yet, but almost," one resident said.

Senior Staff Writer Jocelyn Dong can be reached at jdong@paweekly.com.

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