Candidate Conversations: Utility Undergrounding
Oct 12, 2026 08:52AM ● By MB News Staff
On Mondays during this year's campaign season, Manhattan Beach News will publish candidates' statements on topics provided by MB News.
All four candidates for City Council were given the same prompt, and a chance to reply in up to 500 words. Their replies are published below. Each week, the order for candidates will be adjusted.
This week's prompt:
Most of Manhattan Beach was built with overhead utilities, with many parts of town still today featuring electrical wires and TV/internet cables suspended from unsightly telephone poles.
The city has created a process to allow individual districts of the city to underground utilities, but only a few areas have done so. There is a complicated process in which residents must vote to initiate and pay for the effort. The latest project, in two districts of El Porto in North Manhattan Beach, is about four years behind schedule, with no clear end in sight, according to some residents.
What specific actions would you suggest for expediting completion of current undergrounding projects? Should the city take a more aggressive role in managing any future undergrounding?
Bigger picture: Should undergrounding remain a district-by-district process, dependent on homeowners to initiate the projects? Does this setup consign many parts of the city to never receiving utility undergrounding?
MARK BURTON
RICHARD MONTGOMERY
In 2022, two proposed districts (Districts 8 and 13) submitted petitions and were granted funding to begin the utility design phase. Unfortunately These two districts were never allowed to vote during the moratorium (candidate Burton voted for the moratorium) and I believe every district has the right to vote. As a member of the council in 2022, I voted for these two districts to move forward!
I also voted supported the El Porto districts formation and was pleased to see construction begin.
However, even though we had removed SCE as the lead contractor and installed our own staff engineers in charge (reducing costs by 15-20 percent) the flaw remained that one of the utility companies (Frontier) delayed and obstructed the project at every opportunity. Frontier was recently purchased by Verizon (the original provider) and cooperation has increased significantly. In addition absentee owners delayed the process by refusing to provide “conduit for electrical service” to their own properties. The city decided to move forward and these two districts (12 and 14) are in the latter stage of construction.
Note that based on the size of a typical UUAD project, it will typically take 3-5 years to complete once funds are authorized by the City to initiate design plans.
While this may seem like along time, several steps must be accomplished. These include:
- Creation of Utility Design
- Plans (up to 2 years)
- Review, Pricing and Voting
- Procedures (6-9 months)
- Construction within the
- Streets (9-12 months, typically)
- Cabling and Residential
- Connections (9-18 months)
- Pole Removal (3 months)
The formation of an UUAD (utility districts) remain an option for any neighborhood that cares to pursue it. Many residents feel unsafe with electrical wires and transformers in close proximity to their homes, while others want to remove the poles for visibility and or protection during an earthquake.
As the utility company Frontier has been replaced by Verizon, the process of any current or proposed district will benefit. In addition, with the city engineer as the lead contractor, every district will save costs and time. Finally, while on council , we created an “Assessment Deferment Program”.
The City created a tiered financial assistance (loan) program to help home-owners 62 years of age or older with an annual household income of less than $127,300 defer all or part of the cost of under grounding utilities until the sale or transfer of their homes. The amount loaned by the City will accrue interest until it is repaid, with a fixed interest rate determined at the time the project commences. Qualifying for the program requires filling out an application form and providing certain information about your age, income and assets so that the City may determine your eligibility.”
Although the city website is available for information about the UUAD program, Please reach out to me directly with any questions or concerns as no other candidate was as involved in the UUAD process from the beginning.
JOSEPH UNGOCO
I live in El Porto mid block on a street.
My home could easily be the poster child in favour of undergrounding as I could open my kitchen window and touch a transformer. Cables hang low enough above my stairs to dry a wetsuit on.
I have the grace to allow that supply chain issues contributed heavily to the early delays, but then the recent delays were directly due to scheduling problems with city inspectors to move the process along. Furthermore,Council's hesitation to move forward with non-compliant owners has significantly contributed to delaying the process.
As a resident, I was deeply offended by the current Council's "shock and dismay" to find the project 4 years behind - considering they had already been in office nearly that entire time.
Given the current rates of property turnover and redevelopment, these areas that have not yet formed a district will eventually do so. I think it would be a gross overreach for Council to force a change upon an area before the majority of residents decide for themselves.
AMY HOWORTH
I completely share and understand the deep frustration felt by residents in Districts 12 and 14. You approved these districts back in 2019, and it is entirely reasonable to expect this work to be done by now. Waiting this long is incredibly difficult, and I want to assure you that we hear your concerns loud and clear.
There are many (13!) steps on the path to undergrounding, with some of the responsibility on residents and their private contractors, some on the city for plan and permit approvals and inspections and some of the steps are dependent on the utilities: Southern California Edison, Spectrum, and Frontier. All service conversions and pole removals are performed by those utilities after required private property work is completed.
To address earlier delays and staff vacancies, City staff has significantly increased coordination efforts and assigned additional staff. Since mid-2025, staff has held biweekly coordination meetings with Southern California Edison, which resulted in dozens of electrical conversions being completed that had previously been stalled. internally, Public Works staff is now more closely coordinated with the Building and Safety Division to keep permits active and inspections moving efficiently.
Taking these delays very seriously, City Council directed staff to help expedite the completion of property inspections, approving an extension of service conversion permits for District 12 and 14 property owners alongside a one-time fee waiver. This decision by Council has helped break through a permitting bottleneck in the process.
It’s important to note that the assessment-funded portion of the project, including the underground right-of-way infrastructure (vaults, conduits, pull boxes, and related street restoration) has been completed.
2. Utility service conversions (cutovers) from the overhead to the underground system by SCE, Spectrum, and Frontier
3. Removal of the overhead utility poles and installation of new streetlight poles at the existing locations
The existing utility poles cannot be removed incrementally. Pole removal can only occur once entire blocks are fully converted to underground, all utilities confirm clearance, and new street lighting concrete poles are ready for installation. And timing remains dependent on utility scheduling and completion of remaining private work
There has been progress, though if it isn’t on your property, it is frustrating! Here are some actuals:
Southern California Edison (SCE)
● 276 of 461 properties converted (60%), representing the critical path for pole removal
● 76 properties currently released to SCE, including 33 that are fully prepared and ready to be scheduled by private contractor Frontier
● 423 of 461 properties converted (92%)
● Remaining locations are constrained by conduit or access issues in right-of-way
● The City is coordinating with Frontier to review remaining ROW related issues and determine whether Frontier cancomplete corrective work directly to resolve remaining conversion constraints
Spectrum
● Approximately 171 of 461 properties converted (37%)
● Spectrum has completed backbone work and is continuing aerial-to-underground service conversions at an increased rate
● The City is coordinating with Spectrum to confirm remaining conversion sequencing and identify any constraints affecting final block-level completion
We know that this project has taken far longer than anyone anticipated, and we are truly sorry for the stress and inconvenience this delay has caused. As a City Council, we are committed to taking active steps to help: we recently approved an extension of service conversion permits for District 12 and 14 property owners alongside a one-time fee waiver to help relieve some of the burden.
We met with SCE leadership last year and will be meeting with them again soon to advocate on your behalf regarding conversions and power outages. We maintain an updated dedicated webpage on Utility Undergrounding Assessment Districts, but we know we can always do a better job keeping you informed every step of the way.
As for the question of whether UUAD’s should remain a district-by-district process, my quick answer is yes.
Historically, not everyone wanted undergrounding. For many it is too costly. And it isn’t feasible for the City to pay for it, nor have we ever had any traction in getting SCE to cover the costs. I wasn’t on the Council when this process was set up, but I believe it is fair and puts the power in the residents' hands.
