BACKGROUND:
In 2009, the City entered into an agreement to partner with the City of Palm Springs to widen the Ramon Road corridor from San Luis Rey Drive to Candlewood Drive, as well as widening the Ramon Road Bridge over the Whitewater River Channel. The design for the widening of the Ramon Road Bridge over the Whitewater River Channel and associated street improvements project (Project) is currently 100% complete. The final right of ways necessary to complete the Project have either been acquired, cleared and/or are in the final stages, which will allow the Project to move forward.
In 2017, the City formed an Underground Utility District to facilitate the use of SCE Rule 20A Tariff Funds to underground poles from Crossley Road to Agua Caliente Trail. That project used all available Rule 20A funds prior to the Rule 20A funding program being phased out.
Along the north side of Ramon Road, 130 feet east of San Luis Rey and continuing for 120 feet, Southern California Edison (SCE) owns and maintains an overhead power distribution line, including power poles with shared Spectrum and telecommunication lines. The proposed Project requires roadway widening in this area and necessitates these facilities be either relocated or undergrounded similar to the undergrounding of the SCE lines east of Agua Caliente Trail. A location map is included as Exhibit “A.” DISCUSSION:
At this location, SCE, has prior rights on this small section of Ramon Road by virtue of an easement granted to the California Electric Power Company in 1947, by the subdivider of the original Palm Springs Country Club Estates Subdivision (attached).
That easement document predates the County of Riverside’s acceptance of this small portion of Ramon Road (all prior to City incorporation). Consequently, SCE is not required to move its facilities at its own cost. As a result, the Project will have to absorb these power pole relocation costs with Project funding.
This undergrounding Project is proposing to relocate the SCE power lines, poles and related facilities outside of the original 1947 easement. Therefore, SCE requires the execution of a Joint Use Agreement (JUA) (attached), which in effect, replaces SCE’s former easement area with a new area, as depicted in Exhibit “A” of the JUA and gives SCE the same rights in the new area as it had in the former easement. Please note the City and SCE have executed several similar JUAs in the past, usually in conjunction with prior transmission/distribution line relocations or undergrounding projects.
This portion of the Project is outside the eligible HBP federal funding area of the Project, but still within the overall Project limits. Pursuant to the funding agreement with CVAG and Palm Springs for the Project, the local funding amounts will be 75% funded by CVAG with Regional Measure A funds and the remaining 25% apportioned shares divided between Palm Springs and Cathedral City.
SCE has provided a Relocation Cost Liability Letter, attached to this Staff Report detailing the estimated total cost of the relocation work at $137,742. In accordance with the CVAG funding agreement, CVAG will be responsible for $103,306.50 and the City will be responsible for $34,435.50.
Staff is requesting City Council approve the Joint Use Agreement (JUA) with Southern California Edison Company for the relocation of Southern California Edison (SCE) facilities east of the intersection of Ramon Road and San Luis Rey Drive and authorize the City Manager to execute the JUA. Staff is also requesting City Council authorize the funding for the JUA relocation work in the amount of $158,742 which includes a 15% contingency for unforeseen construction costs with financial responsibilities apportioned to Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) in the amount of $119,056.50 and the City in the amount of $39,685.50, respectively.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The estimated cost for the SCE’s undergrounding work is $137,742. As this is an estimate, Staff is requesting an approximate 15% contingency for unforeseen construction costs in the amount of $21,000, bringing the total cost of the request to $158,742.
Thus, the estimated cost apportionment is as follows:
CVAG (75%): $119,056.50 (331-100-150-156-8600-8601)
City (25%): $39,685.50 (331-100-150-156-8200-8232)