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Council establishes Laerport Street undergrounding district under SCE Rule 20A
Summary
The City Council adopted a resolution creating a Southern California Edison Rule 20A underground utility district on Laerport Street between Mariposa and Maple, clearing the way for design and construction by Edison at their expense; transformer upgrades were discussed as a separate potential cost.
The El Segundo City Council on March 18 adopted a resolution establishing a Southern California Edison (SCE) Rule 20A underground utility district on Laerport Street between Mariposa Avenue and Maple Avenue, directing Edison to begin design and construction for the project.
City Public Works Director Elias Sassoon told the council the Rule 20A tariff, created by the California Public Utilities Commission in 1967, allows Edison to design and construct undergrounding work at the utility’s expense for qualifying corridors. Sassoon said the work would remove distribution and communication lines from the street and noted an exception: transmission poles and transmission lines on the tops of some poles would remain because undergrounding them is far more expensive.
Sassoon said the project’s scope also responds to a business that had sought to relocate to Laerport and encountered transformer capacity limits. He explained that while Edison will pay for the undergrounding work, upgrades to transformer capacity are not covered by Rule 20A and would be negotiated separately; the city might bear some or all of that cost unless a project-specific user agrees to pay a portion.
Council members asked about schedule and funding for a second phase. Sassoon said design typically takes six to nine months and construction roughly nine months to a year, and that the city intends to divide the Laerport work into two phases because available tariff funds are limited. He said tariff funds may not continue to accumulate at previous rates and that a gap could make later phases take several years unless other grant or funding sources are found.
With no public comment on the item, the council voted to adopt the resolution; the clerk recorded the motion as passing 4-0.
The resolution directs staff to notify Edison to begin design; Edison will invite prequalified contractors to bid and perform construction management. Staff said the city will monitor trench repair and coordinate with Edison and other utilities during construction.
Council members raised next-step issues: whether transformer upgrades can be timed to occur during the open trench work (to reduce cost), how long transformer equipment lead times might delay upgrades, and whether future regional grants could help fund a phase 2. Sassoon said staff will coordinate with Edison engineering as the design advances and report back to council as needed.
The council’s action does not itself obligate the city to pay for transformer upgrades; that potential cost would be negotiated and requires separate authorization.
Votes at a glance: Resolution to establish Laerport Street underground utility district (SCE Rule 20A) — adopted 4-0.
