Both Sides Air Views on Street Trench Fees

A plan to charge utilities a fee for cutting trenches into streets is on hold for now, city officials said after an airing of the issue.

At a City Council workshop this week to hear arguments for and against the proposed “street deterioration fee,” city engineers cited several studies indicating that utility trenches in pavement, even when they are patched properly, reduce the life of streets.

The result, according to the Anaheim Public Works Department, is substantially higher maintenance costs.

However, utility company representatives argued that the studies are flawed and contended that the fee would amount to a tax.

Ben P. Pruett, franchise and fees manager for Southern California Gas Co., told the council that heavy traffic, not utility work, is responsible for street damage.

“Utility cuts have very little or nothing to do with it,” Pruett told the council. After the hearing he said the company hopes “to resolve this issue without impacting our rate payers.”

Public Works Director Gary Johnson, who defended the studies, said the expense of repairing utility cuts is an enormous burden on municipalities.

The problem will worsen, he said, as telecommunications companies update facilities or install new ones.