Buried proposal

Power player perspectives
Mayor Jim Brown
“The Key Club is asking for a referendum in what looks like it’s going to be May. We could piggyback on that. I think the commission is a little bit afraid that people who go home in May won’t have a say, although anyone can vote by mail. Rather than be criticized, we’ll probably wait until November. I believe we did the right thing. I would like to have gone forward with GMD, but I think the people who came forward and spoke against it didn’t understand what we were doing. … It’s not fair for the people who already have underground utilities, who paid for it already.”

Commissioner Lynn Larson
“I fought very hard to get this analyzed, let alone discussed. If people want to see how ugly the new hardening poles are, they can go look at Bradenton Beach. I wonder now if Florida Power & Light will try to install the hardening poles. To reverse course because it doesn’t include everyone’s streets, I don’t understand the logic in that. What I do know is .05% of the residents who came to Town Hall convinced the majority of the commission to kill the first step in an underground project for the entire island.”

Commissioner Phill Younger
“We need the consultant’s information, and, hopefully, we’ll get it back by January. We know about Gulf of Mexico Drive, but now we need information back into the side streets. Then, we’re going to have to decide how to form a referendum or referenda, and that’s where it’s going to really get intense for the commission. We’ve had some people say, ‘Let’s have it all in one referendum.’ There’s even some talk about a referenda with a structure like beach districts. … I’m concerned that if it all goes on one ballot, the magnitude of it would result in it being voted down.”

Country Club Shores resident Bob Gault
“I think they got it right the first time. I think at the next meeting they should reopen the discussion. The ULI recommendation talks about beautifying Gulf of Mexico Drive, and this is the most beautifying thing we could do. I think an ordinance moving forward with GMD and neighborhoods that choose to underground utilities is a very fair approach. To cloud the GMD issue with that other discussion puts GMD at risk.”

Planning and Zoning Board member B.J. Bishop
“Undergrounding is a big step toward improving the health, safety and welfare on this Key. I’ve been through the experience of undergrounding in a 50,000-plus community. It’s challenging. The reality is GMD needs to be underground first. Beautification is a nice interlude, but that’s not at the top of the list. If voters don’t approve it being underground, they’ll never approve residential streets being underground. That’s a more difficult component that needs to be addressed later.”

Spanish Main Yacht Club resident Tom Freiwald
“I thought it was a wise decision. The mayor showed excellent leadership in prefacing what he had to say before the discussions got too far down the road. We were going too fast. We’re not ready on a neighborhood issue yet. Putting the whole thing off is wise. We get a chance to inform more people about it. And the more informed voters we have the better. From a planning and design and operation standpoint, we’ll save money.”

What’s a trunk line and how many does the Key have?
Spanish Main Yacht Club resident Tom Freiwald pointed out to the Longboat Key Town Commission Nov. 12 that an aboveground electrical system, referred to as a trunk line, sits in an easement between Gulf of Mexico Drive and the communities of Spanish Main and Emerald Harbor.

The trunk line, also known as a feeder line, comes from underground Sarasota Bay and feeds the whole north end of the island north of Spanish Main.

The half-mile aboveground power line with poles is not a part of Spanish Main or Emerald Harbor and sits in an easement both communities (which already have underground utilities) agreed upon years ago.
“So who’s taking care of burying that trunk line?” Freiwald asked commissioners Nov. 12. “It’s not a neighborhood issue, and it’s apparently not a GMD issue.”

Neither the commission nor consultants had an answer for Freiwald; his question raised another concern about what gets buried and what doesn’t as part of an underground Gulf of Mexico Drive project.
On Monday, Friewald told the Longboat Observer said the trunk line raises more questions that need answers.

“The discussion of neighborhoods is complicated,” Friewald said. “If Spanish Main already has its lines underground and we pay again for GMD and these trunk lines aren’t buried underground, we haven’t benefitted.

“I would like the referendum on neighborhoods postponed because we’re not ready to answer all the questions. There are other feeder lines in easements that probably need (to be) investigated.”

By the numbers
77% - of Gulf of Mexico Drive has underground utilities, counting Longboat Harbour and Sutton Place condominiums, which include named side streets but are located along Gulf of Mexico Drive

70% - of the Key has underground utilities

80% - of the Sarasota County side has underground utilities

55% - of the Manatee County side has underground utilities

52 - miles of underground primary cable

32 - miles of overhead cable