Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Charlottesville staff describe slow progress removing utility poles, cite franchise limits and ADA changes
Summary
City staff told the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee that removing or relocating utility poles across Charlottesville is slow because of fragmented utility ownership, an old franchise agreement with Dominion, engineering limits for pole lines and new ADA guidance that removes some prior exceptions.
City staff and committee members discussed persistent sidewalk and accessibility problems caused by utility poles during a Charlottesville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting.
Brandon, a city staff member, told the committee the city has been working with utilities “in earnest” since last year and that “we have around 15, independent utility companies” involved in attachments to poles, but that only two — Dominion and BrightSpeed — own poles, complicating removals. He said the city has removed “somewhere between 30 and 50 poles in the last year” but that many poles remain because moving one pole can force larger rearrangements on a line of poles.
The discussion centered on three constraints: the city’s limited…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
