Power poles trump $21 million upgrade

Many believe Longboat Key’s utility poles are an eyesore, but are they $21 million worth of ugly?

With Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) planning in August to replace at its own cost the town’s poles with sturdier ones — known as the “hardening” of its four power feeders — it brought a question Monday to the Longboat Key Town Commission regular workshop, asking if commissioners would like the idea of burying all of the Key’s cables underground, once and for all.

Town Manager Dave Bullock said the time is right to consider it now that the ground is going to be torn up anyway.

The topic became a debate between aesthetics and dollars, and whether the planned project should be delayed to spend $189,000 of nonrefundable taxpayer dollars for a feasibility study to bury the power lines. After more than an hour of debate, the commission reached a 4-2 consensus to stick with the power company’s commitment to replace the current poles with ones that are wider in diameter and deeper in the ground. The poles will remain at the same height above ground and be able to withstand winds as high as 140 mph.

FPL spokesman Don Sayre guessed that the current poles are at risk with winds in the range of 90 mph to 100 mph.

“The power lines don’t look good,” said Commissioner Pat Zunz, who represents the Key’s northern tip in District 5 where Longbeach Village side streets feature an inordinate number of poles and wires. “I’ve been here since 1983 and we’ve seen so many outages due to overturned power lines.”

Commissioner Lynn Larson agreed, saying “(underground wires) would provide a long-term value to the island.”

When Sayre said a three-month delay to the planned above-ground project would not eliminate it, Larson suggested it be put on hold for further discussion and noted the Key hasn’t seen an intense hurricane in years. “We want to go to our constituents and let the citizens evaluate this,” she said.

But Commissioner Terry Gans said a delay would put the island at risk during the unpredictable storm season. Beyond that, he pointed to dollars.

“Looking good isn’t worth what this is costing,” Gans said.

Vice Mayor Jack Duncan was sympathetic to the aesthetic ingredient, but also leaned toward fiscal conservation.

“We have so many other significant financial challenges ahead of us,” said Duncan, referring to sand erosion issues and a replacement Manatee County water pipe that will run under Sarasota Bay to Longboat Key as more pressing issues.

Meanwhile, FPL officials acknowledged there are wildcards regarding repair for both plans. Sayre said poles with above-ground utilities are easier to fix but are more commonly affected when storms hit the area.

But if the Key is washed over with water by a severe storm and power cables are underground, the cost to locate and replace the underground system is costly.

The town could stick with the current plan and change its mind later, but FPL would have to apply the value of the new poles toward any future underground project.

FPL officials ballparked an estimate to bury power lines just along Gulf of Mexico Drive at $10 million.

However, any poles along Gulf of Mexico Drive adjacent to side streets would have to stay intact.

“Any aesthetic value is lost,” Duncan said to that plan.

Additional scaled-back proposals included burying power poles at the Bay Isles entrances of the proposed town center underground at a cost of $300,000. Limiting the same idea to Triton Bend to the south fire station would cost $1 million.

Meanwhile, an overall underground project that includes burying all utilities like cable TV and sewer lines was estimated at $80 million.

Pole Replacement
What: The hardening of the Key’s power feeders through the installation of wider and deeper power-line poles.

When/where: Phase 1 begins in August from the 4600 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive to the 1000 block. No work will be done south of that. Phase 2 follows from the northern tip of the Key to the 4600 block. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of November.

Cost: None. Florida Power & Light is upgrading its own poles.

Traffic: There will be an influx of trucks and cranes on the Key, but traffic should not be impaired by any lane closures.

Contact John Morton at [email protected]