Page 22 - Layout 1

Planning Matters continued

lines aren’t receiving power. “I love underground power cases over a week. According to Assistant to the City
lines — they do present a more stable power system. But Manager Hal Barnes, P.E., well before this, in response to
they’re only as good as what comes next to it,” Elsner said. requests from several neighborhoods, the City Commission
approved on May 18, 2010 an ordinance which
Even within many neighborhoods, there can be a mix of
underground and overhead equipment. When there’s a establishes a process for communities to follow in order to
underground their overhead utilities (power, telephone,
storm, one resident may be without power while a neighbor
never loses it. cableTV, etc.) and created a mechanism for the benefited
neighborhood to pay the cost of undergrounding through
Housing analyst Jack McCabe points to his Deer Creek Golf special assessment. This is a voluntary program available to
Club neighborhood, which has underground lines in the our neighborhoods and will not be used unless the
newer part including his home. “I never lost power. But the neighborhood officially requests the City to proceed and the
section that’s older, they were out for about eight days -- neighborhood can demonstrate by means of a ballot that
that’s fairly representative,” McCabe said. they have approval / support from the property owners

Currently, 40 percent of Florida Power & Light Co.’s within a proposed undergrounding area.
distribution system is underground, according to FPL To date, six neighborhoods - Idlewyld, Riviera Isles, Las
spokesman Bryan Garner. And there are several Olas Isles, Seven Isles, Harbor Beach and Sunrise Key -
underground installation projects under way, including one have submitted the necessary applications to have their
on the island of Palm Beach. utility lines buried:

But the burying of lines is expensive. And below-ground • Idlewyld/Riviera Isles (267 homes – currently under
networks offer no guarantees of outage-free storms. design

It costs an average of $1 million a mile to move main • Las Olas Isles (312 homes – currently under design
power lines to subterranean levels, according to FPL. • Seven Isles (305 homes)
• Harbor Beach (318 homes)
Generally, “underground lines perform better in wind • Sunrise Key (76 homes)
events, but can result in longer outages when they are
exposed to flooding,” Garner said. He added that most Here’s how the process works:
underground lines connect with above-ground systems at 1. Neighborhood submits application for a defined
some point and can still be affected by a storm. “assessment area” in which lines would be buried. This can
be all or part of the neighborhood. They need enough
In new developments and redevelopments of any significant homes to make it cost effective; they don’t want to hop
size, utility lines are placed underground as a matter of
around. By example, in Coral Ridge Country Club Estates,
course. Converting overhead lines to underground lines in it’s conceivable that the areas south and west of the
existing neighborhoods and commercial areas is another
Country Club could be excluded while the area north of the
matter altogether. In the Sun Sentinel article, and FPL
spokesman says that about 40% of FPL lines are
underground but goes on to say:
“Underground lines perform better in wind events but
can result in longer outages when they are exposed
to flooding,” Garner said. He added that most
underground lines connect with above-ground
systems at some point and can still be affected
by a storm.
After Irma, many Fort Lauderdale
residents, including in our
neighborhood, were without power
(and/or cable) for days and some

20 CORAL RIDGE COUNTRY CLUB ESTATES HOA