Energy woes could cost city

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- If the city cannot find a way soon to coordinate plans

to move utilities underground with rehabilitation efforts on 19th Street

and Placentia Avenue, it stands to loose $2.95 million in federal grants,

city officials say.

Although funding for both projects finally seems to be locked in, city

officials are working against a strict deadline -- June 30, 2003 -- at

which time it will lose the federal money.

Public Services Director Bill Morris said he is developing different

options for the work and plans to have a comprehensive plan in the next

10 days.

“Time is of the essence. If we are trying to get in before deadline,

we need every day,” Morris said.

Two years may sound like a long time, Morris added, but for this

project 2003 is just around the corner. Putting utilities underground

requires a long lead time to get the parts, and construction is also time

consuming.

The city also must allow time to ensure all the bugs are worked out of

the new utility system before it starts construction to avoid having to

tear up the newly completed streets, he added.

Last year, the Costa Mesa City Council approved two expensive

projects: the moving of utilities underground and the rehabilitation of

areas on 19th Street and Placentia Avenue.

The projects are seemingly unrelated, except that they would both tear

up the same areas of the streets.

“We want to put the undergrounding in first and then rehabilitate the

street,” Morris said. “If it’s the other way around, they would have to

cut up the streets we just paid millions to fix.”

All together, the Westside is looking at a face lift worth about $10

million, Morris said.

The trouble comes from the projects’ funding: Each is covered by

different sources, with Southern California Edison fronting about $2.1

million for the utility work, and the street improvements coming from

federal grants and matching city funds, officials said.

The city secured its federal funding, competing against other cities

in the region for money allocated through the Orange County Transit

Authority, Morris said.

However, with the recent energy crisis, Southern California Edison for

a time was not in a financial position to fund the utility work, Region

Manager Kim Scherer said.

With its financial woes lessened, Edison has recommitted to the work

and is making an effort to help the city meet its deadline.

“We are hopeful,” Scherer said. “If everything goes according to plan,

we should be able to make it.”

As with any project, however, there are caveats, she cautioned. Edison

could run into unanticipated problems with the work.

Other utilities, such as phone and cable companies that share the same

utility poles, will be in the same trenches, moving their own wires

underground, officials said.

More groups involved in the project could lead to more potential

problems, but Scherer does not anticipate it.

If Edison cannot meet the city’s deadline with the Orange County

Transit Authority, city officials will have to choose between the two

projects.

“It is doubtful that we could justify going out there and tearing up

the street for underground utilities if we just spent millions to fix

them,” Costa Mesa City Manager Allan Roeder said.

And if Costa Mesa chooses to move the utilities instead of use the

allocated federal funds, it could affect the city’s chances of receiving

future funds, Roeder said.

When Congress is looking at appropriations, they look at where funds

are not being spent and keep that in mind when they allocate the next

year, he said.