Councilmember Todd Gloria: News From City of San Diego - District Three
The City Council approved updates to San Diego's Utility Undergrounding Program that were generated from a year-long collaborative process between community members, utility companies, and the city. The updates were aimed at improving coordination between stakeholders and revising documents and public communications to ensure undergrounding projects are implemented more quickly and with greater consensus. A Utility Undergrounding Advisory Committee comprised of various representatives developed the recommended changes through a series of public meetings over several months.
Councilmember Todd Gloria: News From City of San Diego - District Three
The City Council approved updates to San Diego's Utility Undergrounding Program that were generated from a year-long collaborative process between community members, utility companies, and the city. The updates were aimed at improving coordination between stakeholders and revising documents and public communications to ensure undergrounding projects are implemented more quickly and with greater consensus. A Utility Undergrounding Advisory Committee comprised of various representatives developed the recommended changes through a series of public meetings over several months.
City of San Diego District Three NEWS RELEASE For immediate release: March 23, 2015
Contact: Katie Keach, 619-847-8274
Neighbors, Utilities Collaborate on Undergrounding Improvements
Council Approves Utility Undergrounding Process Updates SAN DIEGO, CA (March 23, 2015) Councilmember Todd Gloria today announced the City Councils approval of updates to the City of San Diegos Utility Undergrounding Program (UUP), generated from a year long collaborative process. The Utility Undergrounding Advisory Committee, a group comprised of community members and representatives from AT&T, Cox Communications, SDG&E, Time Warner Cable and the city, developed the recommended updates considered today. Few city programs evoke as passionate responses as utility undergrounding. By implementing the recommendations of the Utility Undergrounding Advisory Committee, undergrounding projects will be implemented quicker and with greater consensus between neighborhoods and the utility companies, said Councilmember Gloria, who initiated the committee with Councilmember Marti Emerald. The approved updates include direction to Improve coordination between the Mayors office, Council offices, UUP staff, utility companies, and the community through a formalized process to establish local preferences prior to the start of engineering design in each affected neighborhood; Revise UUP documents to ensure consistent language; Expand UUP website with current program and project information, illustration of utility company above ground equipment and city owned equipment, graphic depiction of where above ground equipment may be located, design options, and a flow chart of community participation in the design process; Provide public information support from the citys Communications Department and UUP staff; Revise and simplify public notice mailers; Create design options; Examine innovative equipment design and sizing; Implement quality control; and Implement Council training. The advisory committee was created in February 2014 to advise the City Council on how the City could better implement the utility undergrounding program to minimize community concerns related to the installation of utility equipment and how the city, community, and utility companies could improve communication in implementing undergrounding. The 13-member committee held nine public meetings from June 2014 to February 2015 and was chaired by Joe LaCava, representing Council District 1. Having community members and utility company leaders participating equally was key to the advisory committees success. I am confident the citys Utility Undergrounding Program will now run more smoothly in neighborhoods throughout San Diego, said Councilmember Gloria. The full Utility Undergrounding Advisory Committee report can be found here. ###