Captiva Civic Association

Captiva Community Panel (CCP) Public Meeting Regarding Utility Undergrounding

March 11, 2008

In the face of strong and growing opposition, the Captiva Community Panel (CCP) today voted unanimously (panel members Rene Miville and Harry Silverglide were absent) to shelve its plans for a Petition to ask all Captiva property owners to set up a reported $10.5M to $24.3M tax system to pay for undergrounding utilities on the lower two-thirds of the island.

Comments by various panel members included concerns that the Petition was misleading, omitted certain numbers, that there was no way to know the costs, and that the proposal would certainly be defeated. Panel President Gordon Hullar said that if there is sufficient interest, the panel would be interested in working with any group of people in the Gold Coast and Tween Waters stretch to proceed with undergrounding wires in these specific areas.

The Captiva Civic Association (CCA) thanks its members and Captivans for their helpful comments and for attending recent panel meetings to help make sure all the facts would be known prior to a vote of the panel to send out its proposed island-wide Tax Petition.

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To read a transcript of the comments made by Dr. Richard Brown of Quanta Technology at the 3/3/08 meeting regarding undergrounding utilities: Click here

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Undergrounding Utility Public Information Meeting

March 3, 2008

The meeting was attended by representatives of Lee County, Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC), and two consultants, Mr. R. L. Willoughby of Power Services and Dr. Richard Brown of Quanta Technology.

Lee County officials reviewed the current draft of the Petition. Click here to view the Petition. (Note: Be aware that the petition has been revised since the public meeting on 3/3.  This is the revised petition.) LCEC provided an overview of the current plan for undergrounding facilities on Captiva.

Mr. Willoughby provided a positive analysis of the LCEC technical plan for Captiva, and traced the history of underground technology from the 1960s through the 1980s, and to the present.  He reported that reliability has been enhanced through improvements in technology.

Dr. Brown provided a report based on a three-phase study prepared for the Florida Public Service Commission. He confirmed that newer technology improves reliability as compared to older aerial facilities. However, he stated unequivocally that the principle driver for undergrounding must be aesthetics. The cost is very high and service quality is not improved.  Outages will be fewer, but considerably longer. And, as Captiva is in a Category 1 level storm surge zone, our reliability would be worse than with current facilities in a serious storm.

Many questions were asked by the audience, including:

• Why are South Seas owners required to pay for undergrounding when they get no benefit?
• Why should South Seas owners get a discount and not other areas of Captiva?
• What is the cost to individuals of hooking up their own homes or businesses, since it’s not included in the petition?
• Why are costs shown as only $10 million, when only a few months ago, the County Lands Department included $6 to 10 million for acquisition of easements?
• How many property owners have actually agreed to donate their property, and why does the petition assume donation of property when there has been no survey of property owners?
• Why are long term interest costs omitted when this is a 10-year payback project?
• Can the County show a minimum-maximum range of costs, rather than the current $10 Million cost along with several disclaimers? (Including: “In no event will the County be liable or responsible for the accuracy of these costs.”)
• Why would anyone expect us to sign something with no binding fee, isn’t that like signing a blank check?
• How can anyone say that service reliability would be improved in the face of Dr. Brown’s statement, and with the knowledge that we would only be undergrounding about 4 miles out of a total of 27 miles of electric facilities? (LCEC confirmed the mileage data from North Cape Coral to Blind Pass.)

The CCP plans to meet on Tues., March 11th @ 9 A.M. at the ‘Tween Waters Inn (Wakefield Room) to discuss whether to ask Lee County to proceed with the Petition.  All Captiva property owners are encouraged to attend & express their views.

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February 2008

Additional information regarding the proposed utility undergrounding project on Captiva:

1. Fact Sheet provided by Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC).

This document provides LCEC explanation of undergrounding terms and issues, and also provides pictures of the various "boxes" and other facilities that will remain if an undergrounding project is completed.

2. Lee County Administrative Code (3-15) which explains the process of setting up a taxing entity for property owners to pay for specific  projects such as the undergrounding proposal.

3. "Power Services" - Captiva Island Undergrounding Report.

This report, paid for by Lee County, examined the LCEC undergrounding plan and essentially agreed that the design was in accordance with industry standards.

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To view the Lee County Draft Petition, 2/12/08 version: Click here

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Update on the Captiva Utility Undergrounding Project

August 2007

A study was recently completed for the Florida Public Service Commission by InfraSource. It concludes that available data indicates that "non storm reliability is not significantly different after undergrounding, and that hurricane reliability of underground systems is not perfect due to storm surge damage."

To read the report:  Click here

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News articles from our local newspapers regarding the Captiva Utility Undergrounding Project:

Please click on the following links:

Captiva Current article

Island Sun article

News Press article

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Captiva Utility Undergrounding Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Paul Garvey, Executive Director  239-472-2111 - paul@islandwater.com

Captivans say “NO” to new $24.3M taxing plan to bury utilities underground.

June 18, 2007

The Captiva Civic Association surveyed all property owners on Captiva regarding the proposed burying of powerlines and cable lines on the island.  The results provide a clear picture of the views of those who would eventually have to approve paying for such a plan through increased property taxes.

Of the 1,133 total property owners surveyed more than 50% responded - a remarkable response.  Only about 12% of the 1,133 property owners indicated that they would approve such a plan.  Lee County Staff has indicated that 67% of ALL property owners would have to approve the plan in a petition process in order to propose official Lee County approval of the taxing plan, significantly above the 12% indicating approval in this survey.  Under state law, non-responders are counted as NO votes in the petition process for a new taxing arrangement.

The project construction and design costs of $16,498,724 were made available by Lee County Staff, based on current construction estimates prepared by Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) and Comcast Cable. Project management and ten year financing costs were also provided by Lee County government.  The combined total estimated project costs of $24,311,097 would be apportioned among all Captiva property owners based on taxable value. Lee County made a strong point that the costs shown were NOT “not-to exceed” numbers. LCEC and Lee County Staff reviewed the survey information packet for accuracy, including detailed question and answer fact sheets, immediately prior to the CCA mailing to all property owners on Captiva.

Primary concerns expressed by responders were cost, and the uncertainty that burying these utilities would actually improve storm protection on a barrier island such as Captiva where above ground transformers would be subject to flooding.  Also, several respondents from South Seas expressed concern that they would be required to pay part of the cost, even though existing overhead lines at South Seas would remain above ground.

Survey results have been separately calculated into four zones; Blind Pass to the first “S” Curve; Between “S” Curves; The Village; and South Seas.  The results are well below the required 67% for every zone, with South Seas property owners being the least interested with only 4.8% approving the plan.

Results of the survey have been transmitted to Lee County as well as the utilities [Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC), Comcast and Embarq].  Survey findings have also been provided to the Captiva Community Panel, the group promoting this project, and will be posted on the CCA Website: www.captivacivicassociation.com.  (End of press release)

To see the survey summary of results by zones: Click here

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Captiva Utility Undergrounding Project

CCA President Bill Fenniman recently sent a letter to all Captiva property owners and asked them to respond to a CCA survey to determine their views.

  The CCA believes that property owners on Captiva have little factual information about the project design and cost estimates. The CCA decided to conduct a survey to provide available facts and an opportunity for Captivans to express an opinion on the proposed undergrounding project.

The CCA is neutral on the undergrounding project.

To see the letter & survey from Bill Fenniman: Click here

Here are some links for more background information:

Study by Edison Electric Institute, Wash., D.C.: Click here

Edison Electric Institute, Wash, D.C.: Underground vs. Overhead Distribution Wires - Issues to Consider:  Click here

Florida Power & Light: Underground Conversions (F. A. Q.): Click here

Study by InfraSource Technology: Click here

Property owners were asked to read the survey & respond by June 8th.

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