On Tuesday, January 16, crews were working on Santa Clara Street between Fillmore City Hall and east of Giessinger Winery on the city of Fillmore’s utility undergrounding beautification project.

An overhead utility undergrounding beautification project is underway along Santa Clara Street between City Hall and east the Giessinger Winery. The Project will eliminate an unusually heavy concentration of overhead electric and telecommunications facilities. To carry out the undergrounding, the City created a utility underground district consistent with Sothern California Edison’s (SCE) Rule 20A tariff criteria and is using the City’s Rule 20A funding credits for the work. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulation, known as Rule 20, pertains to the conversion of overhead power lines and other equipment to underground facilities where there is a public interest to do so.

The project will remove four SCE poles (shown it the picture below) and place all the overhead wires underground in pipelines and vaults. The total cost estimate is $431,200, all of which is paid for using the Rule 20A funding available to the City. One pole removal will include a streetlight replacement to the decorative downtown style street lamp. There will be incremental traffic and parking control on Santa Clara Street this time. It is expected to be completed in March.