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The streets listed above have been recently reconstructed and staff does not anticipate <br />reconstruction of these streets for another 15-20 years and therefore they will not be <br />immediate candidates for undergrounding of overhead utilities. <br />Underground District Rule 20B Program <br />Since the City's Rule 20A allocation balance has been depleted, new undergrounding <br />projects must be funded from a different source. Undergrounding the overhead utilities <br />for the subject project can be constructed under Rule 206 criteria. Under Rule 20B, the <br />applicant (City/Property Owner) is responsible for the design and installation of the <br />underground conduit, substructures, transformer pads and splice boxes. PG&E would <br />then be responsible for the installation of conductor wires, transformers, energizing the <br />electrical system and the removal of power poles within the public right-of-way. The <br />City's share of these costs are estimated to be between 60-80% of the $3 million <br />construction cost (approximately $2.4 million). <br />Rule 206 criteria states that the applicant (City) requesting the undergrounding of <br />overhead facilities pays in advance, anon-refundable sum equal to the estimated cost <br />for PG&E's design review and approval costs for undergrounding the overhead facilities. <br />Once the system has been installed and accepted by the utility companies, they would <br />take responsibility for maintaining the utilities. Once the conversion takes place, PG&E <br />would subsequently remove the existing power poles and overhead utility lines within <br />the private and public right-of-way. <br />In order to achieve the undergrounding of utilities under Rule 20B, an Underground <br />Utility District must be formed. Such a formation requires a public hearing, and a formal <br />resolution to underground the overhead utilities, specifying the exact limits of the district, <br />and stating the public necessity for this conversion. <br />Implementing such a district requires cooperation and coordination among residential <br />and commercial property owners, and all utility companies including PG&E, Comcast, <br />AT&T and the City of Pleasanton to complete the improvements. In many cases in <br />California where underground utility districts fall under Rule 20B, property owners <br />contribute a share of the undergrounding cost based on the benefit to their property; <br />however, staff is recommending that the City provide funds for the undergrounding in <br />the City's right-of-way, and also subsidize property owners (up to $8,000 per parcel) for <br />that portion of undergrounding that must occur on private property. Stanley Boulevard <br />falls within the Downtown Specific Plan, and previous undergrounding of overhead <br />utilities in this area was completed using Rule 20A funds, with the City contributing <br />funding toward undergrounding the private property portion of the work. Rule 20A <br />allows the local municipality to fund trenching of the utilities up to 100 feet into the <br />private property and up to $1,500 per panel box conversion. The combined value was <br />estimated at $6,500 for trenching and $1,500 for the panel box conversion, with a sum <br />total valued at $8,000. <br />The proposed Underground Utility District would underground the existing overhead <br />utility lines on Stanley Boulevard between Santa Rita Road and First Street. This <br />Page 6 of 7 <br />