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515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 551174600 <br />(651) 7664029 / FAX: (651) 766-4048 <br />www.ci.l ittle- canada.mn.us <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Mayor Blesener & Members of City Council <br />FROM: Bill Dircks, Public Works Superintendent <br />DATE: June 4, 2013 <br />RE: Utility Line Burial Policy <br />MAYOR <br />Bill 131esener <br />COUNCIL, <br />Rick Montour <br />John Reis <br />Michael McGraw <br />Shelly Boss <br />ADMINISTRATOR <br />Joel R. Hanson <br />Last year the City Council decided not to pursue burial of the utility lines along Little <br />Canada Road from Edgerton Street to 35E. The estimate for the work was $835,000 to <br />bury them from 35E to Edgerton. It was decided that the cost was too much for the <br />benefit received. The process is not very transparent as Xcel Energy only provides a <br />lump sum number and does not itemize its estimates. Since they are the only player it is <br />difficult to tell if the prices are competitive or not. It is believed that if the project were <br />bid on the open market a much lower price could be obtained. <br />The Little Canada Road discussion along with the recent issues with the Rice Street <br />utility line burials ($550,000 project of which Little Canada paid half and there were cost <br />over runs that both cities have disputed) spurred talk of a utility line burial policy for the <br />City. Since the Little Canada Road project failed to pass the test the policy is pretty <br />clear: The City will only consider utility line burial on County State Aid Highways, and <br />even then it is not a guarantee. <br />City streets will not be considered because there is likely to be little benefit received in <br />comparison to the costs of the estimate and the construction itself. It may be worth <br />looking at Edgerton because it is a main thoroughfare through the city with a lot of <br />regional traffic. If the utility lines were buried along this stretch it would really clean up <br />the corridor. I- Iowever, the price may not allow even the Edgerton Road project. <br />The key in all of this is the way Xcel handles the burial requests. Currently, a city must <br />pay $10,000 to $20,000 of non - refundable money to obtain an engineer's estimate for a <br />project. It is not known how they arrive at the prices they estimate and there is no <br />competition to keep them honest. Xcel Energy has always maintained that they prefer the <br />1 <br />