Underground Utilities Open Up New Vistas

Wires and poles used to clog Anaheim’s skyline. They ran alongside nearly every major street--the aesthetic price paid for modern-day technology.

But 10 years ago, the City Council decided it was time to take back the skyline. Council members saw the clean, uncluttered look of South County cities, born in the 1960s and ‘70s with policies that placed all utility lines underground. The Anaheim council voted for a 40-year program that would bury all the lines.

Today, city officials boast of having buried 46 miles of wires. Visitors may take the lack of wires for granted, but it’s not lost on residents.

Bob Templeton, Anaheim’s principal electrical system designer, said the program is so popular, residents clamor for it to come to their neighborhoods.

It’s one of the more gratifying projects he’s seen during his 12 years on the City Council, Mayor Tom Daly said. “When you get used to [the wires], they’re part of the landscape,” he said. “It’s remarkable how nice the landscape becomes when the wires are [gone].”

The trend to put power and other utility lines underground became popular among developers in the 1960s and ‘70s, Templeton said. Thus, newer communities, such as Anaheim Hills and those in south Orange County, never had to deal with overhead wires. Soon after, some Anaheim businesses began paying for burying wires in front of their businesses. But overhead wires, some dating as far back as the 1930s, cluttered the rest of Anaheim.

Burying the lines is expensive and difficult, but Anaheim has chosen to take an aggressive approach and bury the city’s major lines. Twenty-five projects, with a budget of $46 million, are included in a five-year plan. By comparison, Southern California Edison Co. allocates about $8.5 million annually to its Orange County projects.

Individual projects range from 1,000 feet to 12,000 feet, can take two to three years and cost up to $6.8 million, Templeton said. Anaheim funds the program through a 4% tax on electricity, which is an option because the city owns its public-utilities company. The telephone and cable-television companies have also cooperated, putting their wires underground at their own expense.

With sewers, drainage systems and now utility lines underground, burying new lines means coordinating with other agencies to access the available space.

Both Daly and Templeton said the extra time and money are worth it, especially if the projects are coupled with landscaping programs.

Daly and Templeton point to Harbor Boulevard as an example. Several years ago, it had a mishmash of poles, wires and commercial signs. Today, the street has soaring palm trees and flowers lining its street medians.

“The average person might not realize it, but they’re seeing a clear sight,” Templeton said.

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Judy Silber may be reached at (714) 966-5988.