Julia R. Bueren, Director
Deputy Directors
R. Mitch Avalon
Brian M. Balbas
Stephen Kowalewski
Stephen Silveira
RESPONSES TO KPPCSD QUESTIONS SUBMITTED TO SUPERVISOR GIOIA (DISTRICT I)
1. The District would like a report and accounting of the total monies collected in the
special lighting tax assessment for the district and a report detailing is distributed
usage.
Background: The Board of Supervisors, on October 31, 1978, instructed the Public Works
Director to develop an alternate means to supplement ad valorem tax to fund street lighting in
County service areas. The report recommended levying of a street light charge as provided in
County Service Area Law (CSA), Government Code 25210.1 and following, and in accordance
with Ordinance No, 79-42, adopted by the Board of Supervisors on March 27, 1979. CSA L-100
was created and an assessment was set to supplement street light funding throughout the
entire County. An annual report is taken before the Board of Supervisors every year in
accordance with CSA law to confirm the annual charge and fund the CSA L-100 program.
The County provides street light service in Kensington, and throughout Contra Costa County,
via County Service Area L-100 (CSA L-100). Parcels that are assessed the CSA L-100 levy
receive the special benefit of street lighting. These services are limited to the operations and
maintenance of streetlight systems that benefits the properties by providing increased
illumination for ingress and egress, safety for traveling at night, improved security, protecting of
property, and reduction of traffic accidents. The assessment is $14.94/EDU (equivalent
dwelling unit) and has been that amount since the creation of L-100. A single family home is
considered 1 EDU. In comparison, a single condominium unit is considered 0.50 EDU.
Kensington is one of the communities included in CSA L-100, which boundary encompasses
the entire Contra Costa County.
CSA L-100 typically receives $600K to $700K in assessments annually and approximately
$600K in ad valorem taxes. For FY 12/13, $800K was budgeted for utility costs (PG&E service)
Countywide. The balance is used for the administration and maintenance costs associated with
street lights that the County maintains and a portion is set aside for capital expenditures that we
anticipate in the future.
Within the Kensington community, there are approximately 337 streetlights and all of them are
maintained by PG&E under the LS-1 rate schedule, which will be described later in this
document. The annual costs for this rate schedule in Kensington are just under $50,000 a year.
There are approximately 2310 parcels in Kensington that are part of L-100. Assuming the
$14.95 EDU assessment, the funds collected as part of the CSA L-100 assessment are just
over $34,500 a year. The ad valorem portion within Kensington would have to be calculated
and added to the assessment portion to determine the total CSA L-100 revenue for the area.
2.
The District would like to know if and why to get decorative street light replacements the
district would have to pay more money and if so how much.
CSA L-100 was established to provide basic streetlight services and contracts with PG&E for
the actual services (electricity and streetlights). PG&E has two basic rate schedules (LS-1 and
LS-2) that apply to streetlights. The LS-1 rate schedule includes the cost of electrical energy as
well as the physical maintenance of the streetlights. The LS-2 rate schedule includes just the
energy costs with the local entity being responsible for the ownership and maintenance of the
streetlights. There are several variations within each of these two basic rate schedules
"Accredited by the American Public Works Association"
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because of variations in how streetlights are used in specific circumstances (i.e. Some are
placed on existing utility poles, some are on different varieties of poles, different types of
luminaires, etc.). The streetlights in Kensington along Arlington Blvd are on the LS-1 rate
schedule, PG&E owns and maintains the streetlights. For this reason, the types and kinds of
streetlights available to the LS -1 rate payer are limited to PG&E’s discretion. PG&E has not
historically offered a decorative pole that meets the street lighting requirements for the current
pole locations on Arlington Avenue.
Maintenance costs of decorative streetlights and “custom” poles typically exceed the cost of
basic streetlight service. CSA L -100 was formed to only provide basic street light services
(maintenance and operations of a basic streetlight).
Installation of new streetlights or
decorative/customized poles are not included in the CSA L-100 assessment. Therefore any
service beyond this basic existing level of service will require additional funding, such as the
possible formation of an assessment district for decorative streetlight service.
As an alternative, the County has established a Streetlight Community Facilities District (CFD)
that Kensington residents could annex into. Like CSA L-100, the CFD was not established to
necessarily install new streetlight (standard or decorative) infrastructure, however it was
established to maintain both standard and decorative streetlights. The annual assessment of
each parcel is dependent on its land use. For example, the annual assessment for a single
family parcel within the Streetlight CFD is $64.35 and a condominium is $38.61. The higher
CFD assessment rate compared to CSA L-100 is indicative of communities desires to operate
and maintain decorative streetlights which have higher costs than standard streetlights.
The cost of a potential decorative street light project could range from $2 million to $5 million
dollars. These estimates are based on past undergrounding projects with decorative lights,
utility trenching, sidewalk replacement and related street paving. The range in potential costs
are due to the unknown number of streetlights desired and locations, potential for underground
utility relocations, and amount of sidewalk and frontage improvements necessary to
accommodate the streetlights. A more refined cost estimate can be developed once specific
street lights and locations are defined. The Arlington Ave corridor is confined by high density
residential and commercial frontage which typically requires a higher level of design
coordination and utility relocations than typical road improvement projects. Based on past
experience with assessment district formations, the cost to establish a new assessment district
can be up to $150,000.
The cost is dependent on the type of assessment district, the
election/voting process, and benefit service to be provided.
3. Please have the County provide in layman’s language the exact dimensions of the old
street lights including:
a. Length of pole top to bottom
See attached PG&E exhibits.
b. Height from the ground the light is actually
See attached PG&E exhibits
c. Lums of light provided, hung
PG&E’s initial conversion estimate for High Pressure Sodium Vapor (HPSV) to LED called for
replacing a 250 Watt HPS fixture (26,000 Initial Delivered Lumens) with a 90 LED 149 Watt
fixture (11,347 Initial Delivered Lumens). This resulted in customer complaints of too much
light, and PG&E now generally uses a 60 LED 99 Watt (less than 8000 lumens) as the largest
replacement for the 250 Watt HPS.
d. Distance between lights
175 to 200 ft in residential area and 100 to 150 ft in commercial area.
e. Approximate ground square footage of cover
See attached PG&E exhibits.
4. Please have PG&E and the County, list those lights and style available to replace the
lamp dimensions currently being manufactured for purchase (where any of these lights
offered?) Also provide comparative analysis to the old lighting dimensions.
The streetlight options available from PG&E are as follows:
14 ft. tall (top of pole to ground) decorative acorn (up to 150 Watt fixture)
This decorative pole is 14 ft tall from the ground to the top of pole. The “acorn” light fixture
is mounted to the top of the pole and extends 2.5 ft higher. Thus, the height of the pole
including the light fixture is 16.5 ft tall from the ground to the top of light.
16 ft. tall (top of pole to ground) decorative tear drop (up to 150 Watt fixture)
This decorative pole is 16 ft tall from the ground to the top of the pole. The “teardrop” light
fixture is attached to the pole on a short mounting arm and is below the actual top of the
pole.
28 ft. tall (top of light fixture to ground) galvanized steel pole (200 to 250 Watt fixture)
This standard street light pole is 26 ft tall from the ground to the top of the pole. The light
fixture is mounted to a 6 ft long arm that rises 2 ft higher than the pole. Thus, the height of
the pole from the ground to the top of the light fixture is 28 ft. This pole option allows for
LED light fixtures.
32 ft. tall (top of light fixture to ground) decorative pole (200 to 250 Watt fixture)
This decorative street light pole is 28 ft tall from the ground to the top of the pole. The light
fixture is mounted to arm that rises 4 ft. Thus, the height of the pole from the ground to the
actual top of the light fixture is 32 ft.
The original streetlights were wood centerbore poles that were 26 ft to 28 ft high (top of pole to
ground) with 250 Watt fixtures. According to PG&E, the reason the recently installed 250 Watt
fixtures appear to be brighter than the previous 250 Watt fixture is the globe. The previous light
fixtures (globes) had aged and “yellowed”, thereby dimming the light actually emitted. These
globes were also known as “town and country” and were hung below the top of the pole on 2 ft
arms.
5. Please have the County explain why after paying over a million dollars for 57 street lights,
why it may be necessary to pay additional money to get what we want and how much
additional might we be talking.
Please see response to Question 1. The assessment adopted in 1979 was not a special district
within Kensington, but Countywide. The assessments collected of the previous years are used to
cover the cost of electricity and maintenance of the existing lights via the LS 1 rate schedule with
PG&E (lights are owned and maintained by PG&E). The CSA L-100 assessment is $14.94/EDU
(single family home). This annual assessment funds the operations and maintenance of basic
streetlights, including the capital replacement cost. This basic assessment is not sufficient to fund
decorative streetlight maintenance or installation.
6. If the County is the entity we are negotiating our street light services with, why is PG&E
being allowed to dictate what can and cannot be offered as the style and type of lamp we
would prefer? It seems to the Board that we are the client here and not PG&E or the County
for that matter.
The County (CSA L-100) is the entity that is responsible for street light service in Kensington. CSA
L-100 contracts with PG&E for the actual streetlight operations, maintenance, and electrical service
via 2 basic rate schedules (LS 1 and LS 2). Streetlights that within the LS 1 rate schedule are
owned, maintained and powered by PG&E. Streetlights that are within the LS 2 rate schedule are
owned and maintained by the County, with PG&E only providing the electric service. The service
rate the County pays PG&E for LS 2 is lower than LS 1 since the County is only paying for the
electricity, and using County forces to do the actual maintenance work (replacing poles, lights,
wiring, etc.).
The streetlights in Kensington are on the LS 1 rate schedule, therefore maintenance and operations
are provided by PG&E. The streetlight alternatives available are determined PG&E and regulated
by the Public Utilities Commission. Since the wood centerbore poles were aging (and becoming a
potential hazard), PG&E elected to replace those poles with updated standard poles. The
centerbore wood poles are considered non decorative, and the standard pole at the time of original
installation. The new standard galvanized pole is considered an “in kind” replacement.
Should the Kensington CSD wish to acquire the street lights within Kensington and take
responsibility of them, there are options available. A discussion of this will be prepared under a
separate
document
and
some
details
provided
for
such
an
approach.
7. If this issue cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of the people of Kensington and we are
forced to retain that current replacement street lights, please explain why there should be a
continuation of the special lighting district assessment and on what grounds?
Please see response to Question 1 regarding the adoption of CSA L-100 assessment passed by
the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in 1979. This is a Countywide assessment for street
light operations and maintenance. If PG&E cannot resolve the streetlight issues to the satisfaction
of the Kensington community, the County may explore initiatives to purchase the existing
streetlights from PG&E, if that is the direction determined. This can be a lengthy process, however
it potentially will allow the County to provide options currently unavailable from PG&E to the
residents of Kensington. Ownership of the streetlights will allow for additional flexibility of pole
heights, arm lengths, and shields. Some of these customization options are considered nonstandard and not available from PG&E. As indicated above, a separate discussion document will be
prepared to outline this potentially complicated purchase.
Prepared by: B. Balbas/W. Lai
G:\engsvc\Warren\2013\Correspondence\Kensington CSD Questions 0301421013 BBalbas WLai.docx