ENCINITAS: City undergrounding law far from perfect

By RUTH MARVIN WEBSTER - Staff Writer | Saturday, September 6, 2008 5:39 PM PDT ∞

ENCINITAS ---- A law passed last year in Encinitas requiring electrical, telephone and cable lines to be put underground has caused some property owners to delay or cancel building projects until the ordinance can be revamped to make it more fair, some residents and developers said last week.

"The idea of undergrounding lines is admirable, but I think there are more creative solutions than this (ordinance)," said architect Gary Cohn, who said he has a number of projects in Cardiff that are affected by the new law.

Under the code, unanimously passed by the City Council in April 2007, property owners are required to put underground all utilities along the frontage of their property when they add or remodel 500 square feet or more. Single-family homes are exempt, but twin homes, duplexes, condos and commercial buildings are not.

The ordinance is unworkable for many reasons, according to critics, who allege it is inequitable, impractical and does little to further the city's goal of removing unsightly utility poles.

"Arguably, the largest benefit of undergrounding is to single-family residential (projects), and they are exempted (from paying for it)," said Encinitas property owner Keith Harrison, adding that he passed on several small commercial projects because of the ordinance. "This policy clearly needs to be changed."

The city is also rethinking the ordinance. In late May and June, it held a series of workshops for residents, developers and others to hear complaints about problems with the law.

"The current ordinance has definitely resulted in some unintended consequences," Mayor Jerome Stocks said recently. "The intent to underground was good, but when you put it out on the street ---- especially in older parts of town, with smaller lots ---- it just didn't work very well."

The city's engineering department is now putting together a report on alternatives to the ordinance that will be presented to the City Council later this month or in early October, senior engineer Masih Maher said.

City goes to work

Peder Norby, the Leucadia MainStreet Highway 101 coordinator who acted as a facilitator at the city workshops, said the hundred or so architects, residents and developers who attended the meetings brought up a number of concerns.

Norby said that workshop participants told him that, in some cases, the ordinance results in more poles and lines being erected, and that can mean a patchwork of overhead lines and underground lines ---- sometimes along the same street.

"What goes on now is that you have a twin home that has to underground right next to a single family home that doesn't," said Norby. "Not only is it piecemeal (to do this way), but it is four to five times more expensive than if you did it all at once for the whole block."

Harrison lives in Olivenhain and owns a prime piece of downtown real estate on the corner of J Street and Second Street that is zoned for mixed use.

He said he has delayed building a two-story, 3,000-square-foot structure with residential and commercial uses at the site because it would cost too much to underground nearby utility poles on J Street and in the alley behind his property.

"It's just a dollar issue," said Harrison. "At some point you have to decide if it's worth it ... and it's aesthetics, too. It would be like the city telling you, you have to pull up the asphalt on the street in front of your house and put in pavers."

Beside the cost, Harrison said his project also highlights a number of other problems with the way the undergrounding ordinance was written.

He said that if he pays to have one of the poles in the alley, across from his property, moved a few feet south, the already limited property would be reduced and would provide no benefit to any of the residents in term of views.

"I actually support undergrounding," Harrison said "but do it here ---- on this piece of property ---- is not going to benefit anyone."

Harrison said that is quite conceivable that one could have a little $800,000 project that would cost $200,000 to underground.

Out with in-lieu fees

Before the ordinance was approved, the Encinitas code required homeowners to pay an in-lieu fee for the eventual undergrounding of overhead utilities as a condition for building or additions to a single family home. The fee, experts said, was based on fees charged by San Diego Gas and Electric Co. to underground.

"It started out as a fee but the city changed it last year," said Cohn, the architect. "I believe that the (in-lieu) fee was $190 a linear foot with the concept that you would pay one-half, your neighbor on the other side of the street would pay the other half, and the total cost (to underground) would be about $380. ... in hindsight, that is not looking so bad."

But many residents had complained about the fee, stating there was no clear program for equitably applying it.

In fact, when the ordinance was adopted, nearly $240,000 was refunded by the city to homeowners who had previously paid in-lieu fees, said Maher.

Cohn said that for many of his clients in Cardiff, the in-lieu fee was a bargain.

Another issue of "fairness" is that the property owner bears all the costs of undergrounding, when it is nearby property owners who are most likely to benefit by the improved view.

Norby said that the city's engineering department is now in the process of drafting a report to present to City Council with the points presented by workshop participants. Other mechanisms available to cities to facilitate undergrounding are the formation of special assessment districts or issuing a municipal bond to finance particular projects.

In Encinitas, the city recently worked with SDG&E to bury dozens of utilities along Vulcan and San Elijo avenues from Santa Fe Drive to La Costa Avenue. The $1.4 million project took nearly a year to complete.

"I know that it is very difficult to form an assessment district. You need a two-thirds majority to do it," said Cohn. "But it is successful because the person with an ocean view who is benefiting from the removal of the pole, pays more. And the guy with one in the alley behind him, pays less. ... But it will never, ever get done the way it is set up now. This way, it will be more expensive and you will always have a patchwork."

Contact staff writer Ruth Marvin Webster at (760) 901-4074 or rwebster@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.