Planning commission discusses undergrounding utilities, triggers and a long-term microgrid conversation

The Ojai Planning Commission on Feb. 5 opened a discussion about undergrounding overhead utilities and related resilience options, including phased undergrounding, triggers for required undergrounding and a possible long-term examination of municipal ownership or microgrids.

Planning staff described current policy: when new construction occurs, the private project must underground service lines on private property to the nearest pole in the public right-of-way; work beyond that pole typically remains overhead. “What it requires is when new new construction comes in … they’re required to underground anything that’s on their private property to the nearest pole off-site,” Lucas, planning staff, told the commission. He said the city sees only a few qualifying new‑construction projects per year.

Commissioners and members of the public said outages caused by downed lines — and the visual effect of poles and wires — are concerns for safety, wildfire risk and community character. Public commenters noted downtown blocks and some neighborhoods already have underground utilities. Several speakers recommended the city identify phased priorities linked to specific triggers: pole replacement, street paving, major maintenance events, and sale or redevelopment of parcels. Staff and the mayor also raised the possibility of larger options such as municipal ownership of distribution lines or neighborhood microgrids, but cautioned that cost, utility agreements and the need for council-level direction make those longer-term ideas complex.

Multiple members of the public urged starting with concrete, near-term triggers to reduce risk from wind, tree strikes and aging infrastructure. Planning staff recommended the commission identify the trigger points and a scope of work to take to City Council; the commission agreed by consensus to ask staff to prepare background research and to bring the topic to a future joint meeting with council. Commissioner Robert (first name provided in transcript) volunteered to take initial responsibility for researching cost estimates and neighbor-city examples.

Speakers recommended that staff gather: (1) a map of where utilities are already underground; (2) examples of trigger-based programs used by other California cities; (3) initial cost estimates per linear foot for undergrounding from both Southern California Edison and qualified local contractors; and (4) case studies of municipal-utility or microgrid transitions elsewhere. Planning staff said they would reach out to planning colleagues in other cities and return with research for the commission’s subcommittee and future council discussion.

The commission indicated a short-term priority on public-safety and maintenance triggers (pole replacement, major street repaving and responses to repeated outages) and a longer-term interest in studying phased undergrounding as part of a resilience strategy.