The undergrounding of utilities is an infrastructure improvement program overseen by the Public Utilities Commision (PUC). A percentage of local revenues from each wire-based utility (electrical, telelphone, and cable TV) is set aside for use by the cities for placing poles and wire underground. The schedule and criteria for undergrounding are left to the cities.
Undergounding consists of running the wire utilities (electrical, telephone, cable TV) down the center of the street. At each residence, the main conduit branches to a junction box installed in the sidewalk, typically at the driveway. The homeowner pays the "terminating" costs; i.e, to connect his exisiting service panel to the junction box.
We have to form a Fresno Avenue Undergounding District. This is a petition signed by 70% of the property owners agreeing to pay the terminating costs. This petition is then submitted to the appropriate review boards and assigned a priority. Here is the City's undergrounding schedule through the year 2006.
The homeowner pays to have the existing overhead service converted for connection to the underground junction box. This includes digging a trench and laying the electrical conduit. If the existing service is on the same side of the house as the sidewalk junction box and if the existing service is up to code, the cost can be as little as $500. If the existing services are not up to code and/or the existing service is a long distance from the underground junction box, the costs can be as much as $2000. A quick informal walk down Fresno suggests that the existing service for most homes is located near the front of the house adjacent to the driveway; most driveways have grass-strip medians. These will be the least expensive to conver.
The owner also pays for new metal street light poles.Retaining the existing wooden poles is not an option. This is accomplished via a special assessment district where each homeowner's property taxes are increased $80 for five years.
When I learned that our trees were coming down, I immediately tried to envision this neighborhood without them. In my mind, I guess I saw our streets pretty much as I see them now--just without trees. In the past weeks as I've done field trips around Berkeley to see various tree species, and especially upon my occasional diversion into Oakland, it has become obvious that my mind-picture was wrong.
Our street will be dominated by utility poles and lines that the trees now hide. Lest you think this is an East-side/West-side issue, consider that although the utility lines are physically on the east side of the street, the lines will actually be more prominent when viewed from the homes on the west side because of lower sight angles and the foreshortening of the cross-street wiring.
No matter what tree we plant and how fast it grows, lines and poles will dominate aesthetically for at least ten years. We are therefore getting a double hit from Dutch Elm Disease: we are not only losing our beloved trees but also replacing them with hideously ugly utility lines and poles.
If all else fails, we can, to some extent, buy ourselves out of the tree problem. That is, as the City chops down our trees over the next few years, we can purchase sizeable replacement trees. No amount of money, however, will purchase the invisible paint needed to hide the poles and lines.
My point is this: the city's funds for undergrounding utilities are committed through the year 2006. We must fight to get the utilities undergrounded sooner rather than later based upon our environmental emergency.