close

Underground utilities: What’s next

3 min read

The city of Cape Coral has learned a few things in its first attempt to give property owners the option of having power lines buried underground instead of being installed overhead.

While the proposed North 2 undergrounding of electric and communications option was soundly rejected by residents asked whether they would be willing to pay for the improvement, city officials say the straw poll provided a template for potential future undergrounding plans.

“We’ve gone through the process and know that the options are and we know what funding mechanisms might be used. We have all the at information in a nice box of concepts and ideas that we can put on the shelf,” said city spokesperson Connie Barron.

Two-thirds of the more than 1,000 ballots returned from residents said they were against proceeding with the North 2 Underground Electric Distribution Project.

“We had been approached by citizens about whether the city would consider undergrounding. With North 2 coming up, it was an opportunity to evaluate which sections of the Cape might be able to support undergrounding,” Barron said.

The deciding factor on the part of those who voted no, was cost- between $5,000 and $7,000 per home in addition to assessments for water and sewer services.

Based on the vote of 67 percent against, the issue has been decided, at least for North 2, Barron said. The city isn’t going to do anything else about it and there is no Plan B.

John Bashaw, president of the Northwest Cape Coral Neighborhood Association, said property owners were concerned not only with the cost of burying the power lines, but also connecting them to their homes, he said.

“It became too much from a financial standpoint, even when combined with the water, sewer and irrigation,” Bashaw said. “A lot of the members were very well educated on the issue.”

Bashaw said he didn’t know if any other neighborhoods in the NWNA area would be interested in underground electricity in the future.

The city tried to create a partnership between the neighbors and LCEC, the utility, but that did not pan out, Barron said.

If there is interest, in the future, the city will get creative and find ways to make the cost more palatable.

Among future financing mechanisms could be creating a synthetic TIF district, where the city would outline the area, set a baseline for taxable value point and as the property value and taxed being paid increased, the tax revenue would be diverted from the general fund to the project.

Barron added that public service taxes could also be diverted.

“They won’t lower the cost of the project, but there could be other revenue sources that were already in place that could be utilized,” Barron said.

City Councilmember Rick Williams doesn’t know if such a measure will come up again, seeing as it was so soundly defeated. He said they learned a lot about future undergrounding plans, especially demographics.

“It would have to be in an area with upscale homes and more density,” Williams said. “I would have loved to see it and it’s something I would vote for, but I’m not in North 2.”