When it comes to burying utility lines on the island, Key Biscayne residents are used to their elected leaders being all talk and no action.
It has been discussed repeatedly since the Village’s incorporation in 1991. A task force, backed with a high-level engineering study, recommended going forward in 2019, but the Village slammed the brakes after a change in state utility law.
Now, the Council may — just maybe — be ready to finally greenlight Florida Power & Light putting shovels in the ground.
“So today we would give you the intent of the Council is to proceed to underground the entire island,” Council Member Ed London said at Thursday’s workshop.
The Council is expected to take formal steps on the project at its Feb. 10 meeting, moving to bury all utility lines in a project that Mayor Joe Rasco said at the workshop will cost up to $81 million, nearly double the 2019 estimated cost of $46 million. Residents approved a $100 million general obligation bond in November 2020 to accomplish — among other things — a hardening of the island, which includes undergrounding.
READ MORE: Key Biscayne approves $897K contract to move Big Dig sea level rise project forward
The funding method is a sharp difference from the approach recommended in 2019, which would have created a new user fee system based on a calculated benefit, instead of using property taxes to pay off loans. The fee approach was pushed by condominium leaders, who argued they should pay less because most island condos already have underground utilities.
“Pending approval on February 10, we will underground all feeders, laterals, and telecom lines,” Williamson told the Independent. Included in the undergrounding will be all transformers – though they may be elevated when necessary – switches, handholes, pedestals and other infrastructure.
“The project will also include all related paving restoration, swale repairs, landscaping refurbishment, and the branch connections from the new underground system to each customer’s junction box or meter,” Williamson said.
During the workshop to discuss the island’s aging infrastructure, Council members expressed a strong preference for a comprehensive undergrounding project rather than a partial “hardening” of existing overhead equipment.
“All we’ve talked about is fully undergrounding today,” Rasco said. “If we’re serious about doing projects like this, if we’re serious about infrastructure, you’ve got to start them, and you’ve got to bite the bullet and go through.”
The workshop focused on whether the Village should pursue a traditional undergrounding of all lines or a hybrid model involving hardened overhead “feeders” and underground “laterals.”
Council members voiced frustration with the power giant over a lack of comparative data regarding the reliability of underground versus overhead systems – something they had asked FPL previously.
“Now what I’m understanding is that you don’t have that data at all, so you can’t compare what an underground reliability is of a feeder versus overground hardening,” Vice Mayor Oscar Sardinas said. “I thought that’s what we waited for.”
The financial scope of the project has come into sharper focus, with estimates for the entire village—divided into several zones—ranging between $60 million and $80 million.
Under current formulas, FPL provides an equipment credit of roughly 50% for electrical conversion, while the Village remains responsible for all labor costs. For the completed design of Zone 1 alone, the FPL cost-share was cited at approximately $6 million, Williamson said.
Unlike the electrical portion, telecommunications providers do not offer credits, meaning the Village will fund 100% of the equipment and labor to move those lines underground, he said.
Williamson presented primary recommendations for the program’s execution:
- Finalizing design and moving toward construction on Zone 8 (the southernmost residential neighborhoods) as a fully underground project.
- Advancing design work for Zones 2-7 (central and northern neighborhoods) to preserve momentum.
- Pausing work on Zone 1 (neighborhoods around the K-8 elementary school) until a final decision is made regarding the Village’s stormwater system to ensure the two projects are coordinated.
Formal recommendations and funding plans will be presented to Council at its Feb. 10 meeting.
Residents at the workshop voiced concerns over the visual and physical impact of the work, specifically regarding transformer pads that may need to be elevated due to the island’s low elevation.
“If it’s going to be elevated, show us what it’s going to look like,” said resident Luis de la Cruz, a former council member. “People want to see what it’s going to look like in front of their house”.
Council Member Nancy Stoner said she was “tickled” about some of the pushback. “If we want to underground, if we want to improve, we’re going to have to suffer a little bit,” she said. “It can’t be seamless.”
This story was originally published in the Key Biscayne Independent, a WLRN News partner.
