gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648
DURHAM -- The City Council has approved changes to the incentives deal for the West Village project that some members worry will set a precedent for other groups to demand subsidies to bury power lines.
The changes gave administrators permission to pay for moving the power lines near West Village underground, into ductwork and vaults contractors have already installed.
Thanks to the sagging economy and a $1 million federal grant city officials landed in 2007, it doesn't look like the addition will add to the bottom-line cost of the streetscape near West Village the city is upgrading as part of its incentives deal with project developer Blue Devil Partners.
The project was originally supposed to cost a maximum $4 million, is now capped at $5 million including the grant, and is actually on track to cost significantly less.
Council members in fact think the grant may make an equivalent amount of city money surplus, and have told City Manager Tom Bonfield and his staff to check back with them before allotting it to other things.
Given the cost picture, "I can live with the decision we made," said Councilman Mike Woodard, one of the members otherwise concerned about the precedent. "I'll just leave it at that."
But the administration and the council weren't quite on the same page about the question of putting the power lines underground.
The idea first came up in the summer of 2007 and figured in behind-the-scenes talks city officials conducted with the developers and Duke Energy.
Administrators led by then-City Manager Patrick Baker and then-Economic and Workforce Development Director Alan DeLisle also checked with at least some council members, who signaled they might chip in if the developers and Duke Energy did likewise.
But as talks continued, Blue Devil Partners -- a company led by former Duke University basketball stars Christian Laettner and Brian Davis -- joined the power company in declining to pay.
Officials in the Baker administration nonetheless agreed it'd be a good idea while West Main Street was already torn up to install the necessary piping, and had designers start drawing up the blueprints. That work overlapped with Bonfield's arrival last August, and somewhere along the way it appears there was a communication breakdown.
The new manager concentrated on making sure streetscape construction commenced in time to meet a March 21 deadline set by the grant.
The council's potential qualms about the power-line issue didn't get relayed to him, and by the time a $2.6 million construction contract was ready for signing, the effort to put the lines underground had become part of the deal.
A memo seeking the council's permission in February to sign the contract clearly said "the relocation of all overhead power lines to underground" was in the project. But it glossed over the question of who was footing the bill for that element. Officials did, however, note that follow-up discussion was required.
Woodard and Councilwoman Diane Catotti both thought the developers should pay for the actual move, if not the ductwork, and were surprised to learn when the follow-up came around that the city was on the hook.
They were annoyed because officials for several years have stiff-armed calls from two Fayetteville Street shopping center owners, Larry and Denise Hester, for the burial of power lines in that corridor.
Unlike Laettner and Davis, the Hesters haven't tied their requests for city money to the certainty of any accompanying private redevelopment investment. But officials agree Fayetteville Street needs sprucing up, and have begun planning a streetscape project there.
They also are preparing to apply for $80 million in federal economic-stimulus money to pay for work in the Fayetteville Street corridor and four other business districts. The application among other things will seek money to pay for burying power lines.
Officials have been reluctant to spend the city's own economic-development dollars on power-line burials because the work's usually expensive and, strictly speaking, not essential for the power infrastructure's proper functioning.
Mayor Bill Bell has told council members he doesn't think the West Village deal sets any precedent. Woodard, however, said he "would expect that other business districts are going to come and continue to press us for buried power lines."
