Underground utilities

Voters won’t just choose their commissioners in the town’s March 10, 2015 general municipal election.

They will most likely decide whether to surge ahead with a proposal to bury Gulf of Mexico Drive utilities — or pull the plug on the plan.

The Longboat Key Town Commission will vote on two ordinances on second reading and public hearing in a special meeting at 1 p.m. Nov. 12, which will take place before the commission’s regular workshop.

The first ordinance would allow the town to seek a bond of no more than $19 million to bury utilities along Gulf of Mexico Drive, if voters approve it.

The second ordinance would allow the town to issue a bond of no more than $5 million to help neighborhoods that seek to bury their own utilities if residents petition the town. The town would not use the bond to pay for burying utilities in neighborhoods. However, it would use bond funds to help neighborhoods with startup costs and financing if a to-be-determined threshold of residents within an area establish a special district and vote to assess themselves.

The commission heard from multiple supporters of underground utilities at its Oct. 20 workshop, however, several residents have since criticized the ordinances because they would require neighborhoods to tax themselves to bury their utilities.

“We who live in these neighborhood streets will be asked to pay for the costs of underground utilities on GMD…as well as the full cost of the underground wiring of our neighborhood streets without help from others,” wrote Sleepy Lagoon resident Rosemary Dilgard in an Oct. 31 email to the commission.

Ron Platt, who lives on Gulf of Mexico Drive, wrote Town Manager Dave Bullock to express support for undergrounding the entire island as well.

 “I fear that if it is proposed only to ‘underground’ the wires on Gulf of Mexico Drive, there is a real risk of the proposal being defeated because of a divisive ‘us and them’/‘sheep and goats’ feeling,” Platt wrote.

“We would then lose the benefits of increased property values, increased safety and fewer power disruptions.”

Danny Brannon, principle of engineering firm Brannon & Gillespie LLC, told the commission that undergrounding the island’s side streets would cost approximately $15 million.

Approximately 70% of the island’s utilities are already underground.

Mayor Jim Brown has said that adding the cost of undergrounding neighborhoods to the ordinance could cause voters to reject it.

Debate about undergrounding utilities flickered on and off throughout the summer.

Town staff first proposed the underground utilities concept in May because FPL planned to conduct a hardening project to install larger, wider 41-foot poles along Gulf of Mexico Drive that would be more able to withstand hurricane-force winds. Commissioners initially rejected the idea but reversed the decision in July, opting to authorize a $50,000 study of costs associated with undergrounding utilities.

The commission approved both ordinances on first reading.

How underground utilities impact taxpayers