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HomeMy WebLinkAboutc3jointpoleattachmentagreement FROM: Daryl Grigsby, Public Works Director Prepared By: Hal Hannula, Supervising Civil Engineer SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF JOINT POLE ATTACHMENT AGREEMENT WITH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS COMPANY RECOMMENDATION 1. Authorize the City Manager to sign an Agreement with Southern California Gas Company (Gas Company) (attached) to allow for the co-location of Advanced Meter Project Equipment on selected City Streetlight poles. 2. Authorize the City Manager to sign a separate service agreement (in a form approved by the City Attorney) with PGE to authorize PGE to charge the Gas Company directly for un- metered utilization of power from City streetlight service points. DISCUSSION The Gas Company needs to install seven Data Collector Units (DCU’s) in support of their Advanced Meter Project. They have requested that six of these units be permitted for installation within the public right-of-way in accordance with their franchise agreement. City staff evaluated several locations and installation options available for the pole mounted equipment. Staff concurred that co-locating the DCU’s on six select City of San Luis Obispo streetlights would provide the best city-wide option to provide for the required signal coverage. The seventh DCU will be located on a private pole on private property within a City Water Tank/Water Main easement. The DCU installations will be covered under an encroachment permit for locations within the public right-of- way and under a separate building permit for the location on private property. The co-location on City streetlights requires an Attachment Agreement between the City of San Luis Obispo and the Gas Company. A separate agreement is expected from PGE to allow for their direct fixed-rate billing to the Gas Company for the Gas Company usage of un-metered power from City streetlight service connection points. This agreement has been discussed with PGE service planning but the final form of the agreement was not available at the time of this report. The PGE agreement will be approved as to form by the City Attorney’s office prior to requesting signature by the City Manager. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has endorsed the Advanced Meter Project state wide. The Gas Company intends to install advanced meter communications on approximately 6 million gas meters by 2017. Several communities have already been upgraded with the new technology. The Advanced Meter Project will provide for better billing accuracy, improved customer service and operational efficiencies, and will reduce vehicle emissions from company vehicles. The Advanced Meter Technology uses a one-way RF signal from the meter to the DCU’s and then on to the Gas Company receiving facilities. The duration of the signal is a fraction of a second per Meeting Date Item Number January 21, 2014 C3 - 1 Approval of a Joint Pole Attachment Agreement Page 2 day for a total of less than 2 minutes per year. The RF emissions from a distance of eight inches away from the gas meter can be a million times lower than cell phone use indoors. City staff worked with Gas Company project managers on reviewing several proposed installation locations, general search ring coverage areas, and installation options. Pole location considerations included conflicts with existing facilities, view-sheds, and the availability of a power supply. Staff reviewed several installation options that included wood stand-alone poles with overhead/underground power supply or a self-contained solar panel. Several coverage areas are located in underground wiring districts with no overhead improvements except for streetlights. Several coverage areas are located in overhead wiring districts where the existing wiring is located in rear yard easements rather than within the public right-of-way. The Gas Company is not part of the Joint Pole Association and is not able to co-locate with the wire utilities, such as PG & E, telephone and cable. To prevent the addition of utility poles to the public right-of-way, it was determined that co-locating with the City on existing streetlights was the best and least intrusive installation option. The proposed Attachment Agreement is based on a template used by the Gas Company in other jurisdictions throughout their service area. The agreement was reviewed by City staff. Edits were provided by the City Attorney’s office and were incorporated without exception into the final agreement. The Gas Company has provided two original signed copies of the agreement for counter signature by the City of San Luis Obispo. CONCURRENCES The Community Development and Utilities Departments concur with the recommended action. FISCAL IMPACT The proposed agreement provides for compensation – rent for the Gas Company use of the City streetlight infrastructure. The Gas Company will pay their standard pole lease rate of $39 per pole per year. The agreement provides for the upfront payment for all locations for the entire agreement duration of 20-years within 30-days of the Effective Date of the agreement. The initial installations will be covered under either an encroachment permit or building permit to cover staff inspection time. Any required on-going Gas Company maintenance work that is completed after the initial permitted installation will be covered under their annual blanket encroachment permit. The Gas Company has agreed to pay for city staff administrative time as a one-time fee to cover city costs related to the development of the agreement. The agreement provides for adequate City protections against any undo fiscal burden. The additional energy use will be directly billed from PGE to the Gas Company. ALTERNATIVES The City Council could: 1. Approve the Attachment Agreement with amendments or modifications. 2. Deny the approval of the Attachment Agreement with specific direction. C3 - 2 Approval of a Joint Pole Attachment Agreement Page 3 3. Continue the item with specific direction if more information or discussion time is required before taking action. ATTACHMENTS 1. Gas Company signed Attachment Agreement dated October 3, 2013 AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW IN THE COUNCIL OFFICE 1. Advanced Meter Basic handout 2. Advanced Meter FAQ’s 3. Advanced Meter RF Safety handout 4. SLO DCU Site Survey 5. DCU streetlight co-locate example spec from the City of Arroyo Grande t:\council agenda reports\2014\2014-01-21\approval of joint pole attachment agreement (grigsby-hannula)\council agenda report - attachment agreement.docx C3 - 3 C3 - 4 C3 - 5 C3 - 6 C3 - 7 C3 - 8 C3 - 9 C3 - 10