Newport Heights undergrounding effort voted down
An effort to put utility lines underground in Newport Heights, which pitted neighbors against one another for more than a year, has been defeated.
A movement to place utility lines underground in Newport Heights, which has sparked tensions among neighbors for more than a year, has been extinguished.
Poles strung with electric, phone and cable lines have peppered the Newport Beach neighborhood for decades, bothering some homeowners who consider them unsightly and unsafe. Many longtime residents, however, said they were distressed by the price tag for what they believed to be an unnecessary project.
Had the underground effort been successful, each homeowner in District 114 — bordered by Tustin and Irvine avenues, 15th Street and Cliff Drive — and District 114b — bounded by Riverside and Tustin avenues, 15th Street and Cliff Drive — would have been expected to pay $6,987 to $26,757, depending on the size of the property. The money would have been payable in installments.
Homeowners also would have been responsible for the variable costs of $1,000 to $4,000 to hook up each home’s underground power lines to Southern California Edison.
For months, residents had been collecting petition signatures in an attempt to establish an assessment district to pay to place the lines out of sight. The move is the first step in what is often a years-long effort.
After months of back and forth between neighbors, the City Council in May gave homeowners a green light to move the district formation to a formal vote. A simple majority of homeowners would need to vote in favor for the project to move it forward.
Some council members said in May that they hoped a formal vote would put an end to the neighborhood tensions.
City staff collected and tallied 293 ballots Tuesday night, with 61.4% of homeowners in District 114 voting against forming an assessment district.
In District 114b, 50.3% voted in favor of undergrounding — the necessary threshold to move forward. However, city rules dictate that both districts, which contain about 300 properties, must have a majority approval for the process to continue.
Resident Simone Wilson opposed the effort to place the lines underground, in large part, because of the costs.
“I just don’t have spare money to spend on this,” she said. “I can respect people’s opinion who want this, but there are plenty of people who just can’t afford it. Morally, it’s not OK to force them.”
Proponents of placing the lines underground had argued that with a $4-million city sewer rehabilitation and alley reconstruction project upcoming in Newport Heights, homeowners should move forward with the undergrounding now to save money in the future.
Placing the utility lines underground at the same time while other improvements were underway would likely have saved homeowners money because they wouldn’t have to tear up the alleys again and repave them for the undergrounding project, proponents and city staff have said.
Proponents have argued that placing the lines underground would eliminate the potential hazard of downed power lines and could improve property values.
Resident David Fults said while he’s disappointed in the results of the vote, he thought the process was fair.
“The opponents were hard to fight on this one,” he said. “We should have done a better job.”
This isn’t the first time undergrounding has been pursued in Newport Heights.
In June 2015, proponents in District 118 — bounded by 15th Street, Tustin Avenue, Cliff Drive and Old Newport Boulevard — suspended their signature-collecting effort after a year for lack of support.
Proponents in District 114 also were collecting signatures at the time and continued after District 118 stopped.
District 114b was created as a smaller spinoff of District 118 to continue signature collection from 50 homes. The creation of another district was surprising to some residents who thought the issue was moot.
Homeowners in District 114 are barred from moving forward with another undergrounding effort for a year. However, because a majority of homeowners in District 114b voted in favor of placing the lines underground, they can begin collecting signatures again immediately if they choose.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
