Lines may go underground

Costa Mesa council to hold study session on $850-million plan to bury the city’s utility cables. Putting Costa Mesa’s utility lines underground could cost more than $800 million, so the big question is whether residents are willing to pay for it.

The City Council has had several discussions about burying utility lines in the past few years, but they’ve never gone beyond talk.

Now there may be some movement. Council members will hear at a study session today about consultants who could be hired to poll residents on utility-line burial, and they could choose a firm later this month.

A 2004 city report estimated it would cost $850.3 million to put utility lines underground citywide. Some of that cost could be covered by money available through Southern California Edison that pays for projects on city property. The typical cost-per-residential property was estimated at $23,700, according to the 2004 report.

How to cover that cost will be a major topic of the survey. City officials listed several options, including increasing the city’s business license tax or hotel bed tax, boosting sales taxes, or levying a utility users’ tax.

Council members appear split on whether to move ahead now or to spend money on other city improvements first.

Mayor Allan Mansoor and Councilman Eric Bever said residents have been asking to have utility lines buried, but they’re not yet sure of the best way to pay for the work.

“I know that there’s huge public support for putting utilities underground. We just need to figure out the best way to go about it,” Mansoor said.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley had a different take on what residents want. She said her impression of community priorities puts burying utility lines after improving streets and adding parks.

Council members Linda Dixon and Gary Monahan did not return calls for comment Monday.

Foley also said the proposed poll should include other projects to gauge residents’ priorities, and she urged caution in putting a tax on the November ballot, which could include a multibillion-dollar bond initiative proposed by the governor and a reauthorization of Measure M, the half-cent sales tax that pays for transportation improvements.

“I think we need to look long and hard at taxing our residents any further in this ballot,” she said.