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Redlands council adopts ordinance easing undergrounding requirement for small and affordable projects
Summary
The city adopted Ordinance No. 2966 to clarify and add exemptions to utility undergrounding requirements, citing cost and affordability concerns; council approved the measure 3–1 after debate over aesthetics, equity and fire-safety exemptions.
The Redlands City Council voted to adopt Ordinance No. 2966, amending subdivision rules in Title 17 to clarify when developers may pay an in-lieu fee rather than underground utility lines.
In a presentation before the vote, staff explained there is currently about $1,200,000 in the utility undergrounding reserve and that the fund is barely sufficient to support a Cypress Avenue project preliminarily estimated at $3,000,000. "There are currently, reserve of $1,200,000 in the utility undergrounding fund," staff said, noting that large projects would require additional funding or reprogramming of reserves.
The ordinance formalizes exemptions for small projects (generally two parcels or fewer, or under four acres) and allows targeted exemptions for developments such as certain affordable housing projects to reduce per-unit costs. Councilmembers debated whether the exemptions would create visible disparities between neighborhoods and whether exemptions should be disallowed in high-fire-risk areas. Staff said high-voltage transmission lines are generally not subject to undergrounding and that the ordinance could be revised in the future if the council wished to change exemptions in high fire zones.
Public commenter Michael Paesner urged the city to preserve the general-plan objective of encouraging undergrounding for all new development, saying smaller or low-income lots would still benefit from buried utilities.
Councilmember Guzman Lowry cast the lone no vote. Mayor Pro Tem Berridge, Councilmember Davis and Mayor Tejeda voted to adopt the ordinance. The council directed staff to return with implementation details and to consider whether further refinements are needed for high-fire areas or specific affordable-housing proposals.
What happens next: staff said they will bring priority projects and any proposed ordinance edits back to the council if fund balances or project scopes change.
