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UNDERGROUND UTILITY TASK FORCE PROPOSAL <br /> Articles of Agreements between the City of Eugene and the Eugene Water and Electric Board <br /> December, 1998 <br /> 1. EWEB will continue to underground its utilities for all new commercial, industrial and <br /> residential developments within the city limits of Eugene. New residential and commercial <br /> development is required to have underground utilities per City Code section 7.302 (2). <br /> 2. EWEB and City staff will continue to coordinate the development of their respective Capital <br /> Improvement Plans to identify potential opportunities to underground electric lines and <br /> coordinate other infrastructure work. <br /> 3. Assuming that the existing overhead facilities need to be relocated because of a proposed <br /> public improvement to the right -of -way, EWEB will underground facilities that meet at least one <br /> of the following criteria (those criteria that are new or expanded are underlined): <br /> a. Small scale projects (10 spans or less of overhead conductor). <br /> b. New development causing utility system to be landlocked. <br /> c. Areas where the remaining life of the existing overhead facilities is less than five <br /> years. <br /> d. Areas where the surrounding facilities are already or planned to be undergrounded <br /> with new development. <br /> e. Improved aesthetics in instances where one or more of the above criteria are met. <br /> 4. The agencies will analyze potential health and safety risk situations associated with existing <br /> overhead utility locations. Those identified as high -risk will be prioritized during annual reviews <br /> of Capital Improvement Plans (CIP) at which time funding will be established on a project by <br /> project basis. A cost - sharing approach will be used. City and EWEB staff might consider the <br /> following criteria in determining high -risk locations: <br /> a. Number of units in the structure (i.e., zoned for multi - family dwellings). <br /> b. High population density within the structure and contiguous structures. <br /> c. Accessibility to structure (e.g., Fire Department analysis of impediments in <br /> unimproved alley ways). <br /> d. Significantly increased time of emergency scene deployment. <br /> e. Size of structure. <br /> f. Historical incidence of downed lines in local geographic area. <br /> 5. During the development review process, the City will flag those re__ d_elopment projects that <br /> • <br /> have potential for undergrounding and forward those to EWEB for consideration. <br /> 6. The City and EWEB will cooperatively develop public information material to educate agency <br /> staff, property owners, and developers on the benefits and costs of moving overhead utilities <br /> underground. <br /> 7. EWEB agrees to provide the City, upon request, an annual count of underground facilities <br /> installed within the city limits during the past year, e.g., how many feet of new and replacement <br /> undergrounding occurred that year. EWEB will develop the reporting and monitoring <br /> methodology. <br /> 21 <br />