Moving utilities may add $9 million to Rehoboth streets project

One week after learning streetscape improvements for Baltimore and Wilmington avenues in Rehoboth Beach could cost at least $24 million, city commissioners learned undergrounding utilities on those same streets may add another $9 million to the project.

Commissioners were supposed to have a special meeting Dec. 14 to discuss a report from consultant JMT Engineering on the costs and feasibility of undergrounding utilities within a downtown area that includes the first two blocks of Baltimore and Wilmington avenues; First Street between Baltimore and Wilmington avenues; and Second Street between Wilmington and Rehoboth avenues.

Due to technical difficulties, the meeting was cut short before the presentation could be made. However, the day before the meeting, the report – formally called a power and utility undergrounding study – was posted to the city’s civicweb portal.

According to that report, the estimated total cost to underground utilities in the study area is a little more than $11 million – the city’s $9 million portion, roughly $1 million for Delmarva Power, about $885,000 for Verizon and $125,000 for Comcast.

In addition to cost estimates and pages of technical information, the report contains a number of notes for commissioners to consider.

For example, it says Delmarva Power would prefer not to install underground transformers because there’s no local staff for maintenance, and there are concerns about flooding and water intrusion. The report says new bump-outs installed at intersections could house ground-level transformers.

The report says residential and commercial power services will need to be converted from aerial to underground too, with Delmarva Power providing some portions of the hardware, but the city providing the infrastructure.

Street lighting is addressed in the report. It says Delmarva Power could install the lights at minimal cost if the lights are part of a tariff system, or the city could install them and the lights would be metered. There would be more style options available if the city buys the lights, says the report.

As for timing, the report says seasonal construction – mid-September to late April, one block at a time – would affect businesses, visitors and residents the least.

Mayor Stan Mills declined to comment on the substance of the report. The city believes it is inappropriate to respond until JMT has had an opportunity to present its full analysis, he said in an email Dec. 15.

The meeting postponement does not affect any timelines associated with the streetscape project, said Mills.

During a commissioner meeting Dec. 17, Mills said the JMT presentation has been rescheduled for 2:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 4.