October 2005 Semi-Annual Progress Report

The Newton Task Force on Undergrounding Utilities was established in February of 2005 by Mayor David Cohen in response to a June, 2004 resolution by the Board of Aldermen.   In light of the negative impact on the city of the proliferation of overhead wires and cables, we are investigating the feasibility of burying utility wires in the city.  In addition, we are working to reduce the negative impact of the current wired utility infrastructure. Our ultimate goal is have every home, business and public building supplied with its power, telecommunications and Internet services through a reliable underground network.  The underground network will not only beautify the Garden City, it will also improve the quality of life, safety and reliability of services, and property values for Newton residents.  

The Newton Task Force on Undergrounding Utilities (NTFUU) had its first meeting on February 15th, 2005.  The Task Force has met monthly since that time, and has begun to address the several aspects of its mission.  Reviewed here are the accomplishments to date.

• Undergrounding of Needham Street.

NTFUU has identified the undergrounding of Needham Street as its first goal. Since the street is going to be totally reconstructed starting in 2007, it is a good opportunity to initiate undergrounding as part of the process.  We have determined that by establishing a Business Improvement District (BID), the property owners would have a feasible mechanism for funding the undergrounding and informed four of the largest property owners of this fact. These property owners are enthusiastic about the opportunity, and plan to hold a meeting with the other property owners to try to move ahead with of establishing a BID.  NTFUU members will work with the BID, the State, and NStar to obtain design specifications and determine the cost of undergrounding.  Presentations have been made to NTFUU by several engineers with undergrounding experience that have helped to educate members about the issues to be addressed.  We plan to keep working towards accomplishing this project and expect that it will be an excellent case study of how the undergrounding process works from start to finish.

• More general undergrounding in Newton

NTFUU has been engaged in fact finding to learn about successes and failures in undergrounding efforts in other cities.  Members of the Brookline Undergrounding Committee and the Lexington Electric Utility Committee have made presentations that conveyed the impression that mechanisms for accomplishing undergrounding that have been established by Massachusetts General Laws are largely ineffective.  Citizens are unlikely to approve of placing a surcharge on their utility bills to fund such a project, and even when they do agree, many projects have not been accomplished due to lack of support or cooperation from NStar.

Consideration of forming a municipal power company. 
As a consequence of the difficulty of using current mechanisms for accomplishing undergrounding, the Lexington group has pushed for the passage of a bill (H3294) that would make the formation of municipal power companies (munis) more feasible.  Because munis can distribute electricity more economically than NStar, savings can be used to fund infrastructure improvements including undergrounding.  Some members of NTFUU have worked to support the effort to pass H3294 by testifying at the hearing before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications and Energy on Sept. 20, 2005. 

Facilitating partial undergrounding.
NTFUU has identified the potential for facilitating undergrounding of wires from the street into private homes, and will be investigating techniques for helping homeowners and developers who wish to fund such projects privately.

• Mitigating the impact of existing overhead wires in Newton

The Task Force has been educating itself about the functions of the currently installed overhead wires and ancillary apparatus of the electric, telephone and cable companies in Newton.  We are also reviewing current city ordinances that are designed to reduce the negative impact of this equipment, and expect to meet with members of Inspectional Services in the near future to discuss enforcement of ordinances.  We are aware of previous efforts of our State Representative to have the DTE facilitate enforcement of the restrictions on double poles, and plan to follow up to learn of progress with that effort.  The July, 2005 decision by the Supreme Judicial Court barring the Town of Bedford from imposing fines on NStar for failure to remove double poles within the 90 days specified by state law has reduced our confidence that Newton will be able to take effective action to enforce compliance with Newton=s ordinances with regard to poles, wires and conduits.  

• Educating Newton residents about undergrounding and developing community support.

We have started to identify supportive constituencies. The director of the Newton Tree Commission made a presentation to NTFUU regarding that group's concern about harm done to the urban forest by overhead wires and their maintenance.  The Tree Commission and the Newton Conservators will be important allies our efforts to achieve undergrounding.

We are starting to achieve a presence in the press with an Op-Ed published in the Boston Globe on August 27, 2005. More work needs to be done to publicize our efforts in Newton.
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