At a December 21st public meeting (who schedules a last-minute meeting during the evening a few days before Christmas?), Chugach Electric (CEA) revealed a reduced scope of the project. CEA will now only underground service on one block, and for just 20 properties. The AtoA project was initially scoped to upgrade service on 94 properties on four blocks.

Only the properties on the block defined by Arctic Blvd, W. 21st, W. 22nd, and Blueberry St. will have their overhead lines undergrounded this summer.

Why won’t more properties in AtoA benefit from undergrounding?

Of the 74 properties that now won’t be included in the construction, there was near-overwhelming support through two adjoining blocks that encompass 58 properties. The issue was an inability to find a suitable design solution for running an underground primary line from the north end of the alley between Blueberry St. and Borealis Dr. (terminates on W. 20th) to the back yards of the properties between Borealis and Aurora.

CEA insisted that this connection occur on residential properties. Only two properties in this stretch had the minimum necessary gap (between houses) for CEA to run a primary line. Of these two lots, CEA required that either owner provide easements along two sides of their property, and encompassing between 25% and 45% of the lot size. Ugh.

CEA could have salvaged this project by burying about 150ft of line within the municipal road right-of-way. But the CEA design team (leadership?) refused to bend their design philosophy to accommodate the challenges inherent in an older neighborhood.

Chugach may say the scope reduction was due to insufficient neighborhood support (CEA representatives indeed said this previously). The fact is that a significant portion of the project came down to one of two properties who would have had to carry an overweighted burden by surrendering a huge swath of their property to a utility easement – or CEA burying a short stretch of line in a municipal road right-of-way (which CEA steadfastly refused to consider).

What’s next?

This site will continue to provide updates on the construction for the 20 properties that are scheduled for undergrounding in the summer of 2023.

Best I can tell, this was a generational opportunity for our neighorhood. At CEA’s current undergrounding pace, it seems it would take 75-100 years to underground all of the overhead electric lines in Anchorage. And with the challenges of undergrounding an older neighborhood like AtoA, combined with CEA’s inflexible design philosophy, I can’t see the other 80% of this neighborhood having lines undergrounded anytime in the foreseeable future.