Part 8 — UNDERGROUND UTILITIES

All facilities and wires for the extension of facilities for the supply and distribution of electrical energy and service, including communication service (as defined in Section 12.60.010), shall be placed underground; and further, there exists a need for regulation of certain modifications of existing utility pole lines, all in order to promote and preserve the health, safety, and general welfare of the public, and to assure the orderly development of the city of Santa Cruz.

(Ord. 2022-18 § 18, 2022; Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

1. All new extensions of electrical and communications distribution and service facilities, equipment, and lines carrying less than thirty-four thousand five hundred volts hereafter constructed or installed in the city of Santa Cruz shall be placed underground, unless special permission to construct said facilities above ground is granted, as hereinafter provided.

2. All reallocations of existing overhead electrical and communications distribution and service poles supporting lines carrying less than thirty-four thousand five hundred volts required to be relocated by reason of change of grade or alignment or the widening of the street within which such overhead facilities exist shall, upon relocation, be placed underground, unless special permission to reconstruct said facilities above ground is granted, as hereinafter provided. This provision shall apply only to those streets within an area of the city declared by the city council to be an underground utility district.

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3. Overhead electrical and communications distribution and service poles supporting lines carrying less than thirty-four thousand five hundred volts shall not be installed to support overhead facilities where such installation would duplicate an existing pole line within an entire city block.

4. Electric and communication service wires or cables to any new building or structure shall be placed underground unless the project is subject to an exception identified in Section 24.12.720.

5. Any new building or structure where an expansion of any electric or planned communication service on or within five hundred feet of the property is planned to occur within five years of construction completion, as demonstrated through related capital projects or private development, and which has not otherwise been permitted for overhead utilities or in-lieu fee payment, shall install dark conduit (as defined in Section 12.60.010) along the project frontage or within the project site, together with any necessary easements for the city to facilitate expansion and future connection to all such service(s) in conformance with the public works dark conduit installation specifications that are current at the time of design review and available from the public works department.

6. Any new building or structure shall be connected to existing or planned electric and communications services by active lines, if available, or dark conduit leading to the building from an adjacent main, in conformance with the applicable public works dark conduit installation specifications that are available from the public works department. Any lots or structures with more than one unit shall provide such connections to every individual unit.

7. Any existing building, site, underground utility installation, or structure, for which trenching is required to, from, or along existing or planned electrical or communications services, shall provide underground utilities or dark conduit connections of consistent form and quality with all the specifications of

this section except as provided in Section 24.12.720(7).

8. All conduits, conductors and associated equipment necessary to receive utility service between service conductors or underground pipe or conduit of the supplying utility and the service facilities in the building or structure, and units therein, being served shall be provided by the person building, renovating, owning, operating, leasing or renting said property, subject to applicable rules, regulations and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the California Public Utilities Commission and to the lawful requirements of state laws and city ordinances. All such infrastructure, upon completion and acceptance by the city, shall be dedicated as public improvements to the city. (Ord. 2022-18 § 18, 2022; Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

The provisions of Section 24.12.710 shall not apply to the following. Applicants shall be responsible for any studies, analysis, and reports required by public works to demonstrate eligibility for any exceptions.

1. Poles used exclusively for police and fire alarm boxes or any similar municipal equipment installed under the supervision of, and to the satisfaction of, the city engineer. 2. Poles or electroliers used exclusively for street lighting.

2. Overhead wires attached to the exterior surface of a building by means of a bracket or other fixture and extended from one location on the building to another location on the same building or to an adjacent building on the same lot or parcel without crossing any street.

3. Radio antennas, their associated equipment and supporting structures used by a utility for furnishing communication services.

4. Equipment appurtenant to underground facilities, such as surface-mounted transformers, pedestal-mounted transformers, pedestalmounted terminal boxes, and meter cabinets

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and concealed ducts, and other facilities which are determined by the city engineer as infeasible for undergrounding.

6. The property owner may voluntarily apply to the city engineer to request an alternate discretionary process for the purposes of assessing the applicability of this Part 8 and shall provide public works with any studies, analysis, or reports and payment of any associated fees. Subsequent to such study or analysis, the city engineer may require in-lieu payments, grant exceptions or other modifications to the requirements of this Part 8 on a case-by-case basis.

7. The city engineer may exempt city led projects from the requirement to install dark conduit connections. (Ord. 2022-18 § 18, 2022; Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

The city council shall, by resolution, establish an underground utility in-lieu fee to be paid where the enforcement of the provisions of Section 24.12.710 are not feasible at the time of construction or would more easily be installed at a later date for the immediate neighborhood. Application for the in-lieu fee option is applicable to single-family and multifamily residential up to four units, and accessory dwelling units and shall be made in the following manner:

1. Written application shall be filed with the zoning administrator, with copy to the director of public works, for approval to pay an in-lieu fee rather than undergrounding the utilities. The in-lieu fee option must be approved prior to the issuance of a building permit for the project.

2. Such application shall include all information necessary to properly apprise the zoning administrator and the director of public works of the circumstances existing which require such exception.

the filing of said application, administratively grant or deny the request to pay an in-lieu fee rather than undergrounding the utilities. The decision of the zoning administrator is appealable in accordance with the appeal provisions contained in Section 24.04.180.

4. In approving an application to pay an inlieu fee rather than meeting the regulations of this part, at least one of the following findings shall be made:

a. The cost to underground the utility is highly disproportionate to the cost of the improvement; or

b. The immediate neighborhood has aboveground utility and/or communications extensions and the city plans to install underground utilities for the entire area at one time; or

c. The utility company installing the connecting line has said it is physically impossible to make such a connection underground at this time; or

d. The circumstances are similar in nature to those listed above, as determined by the zoning administrator.

5. The in-lieu fee option does not apply to the installation of streetlights as may be required by the conditions of approval for a project.

(Ord. 2020-23 § 6, 2020: Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

The provisions of Section 24.12.710 shall not prohibit the necessary maintenance and operation of existing overhead facilities, nor prohibit the installation of overhead service lines to facilities already served by at least one overhead utility service, nor prohibit the connection of underground service to existing overhead utility distribution equipment, in areas not designated and declared by the council to be an underground utility district. (Ord. 85-05 § 1 (part), 1985).

3. The zoning administrator shall consider said application and the purpose to be attained by this part and shall, within thirty days after

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