Resolution 2024-33106 RESOLUTION NO.; 2024-33106
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ACCEPTING THE
RECOMMENDATION OF THE LAND USE AND SUSTAINABILITY
COMMITTEE AND DIRECTING THE CITY ADMINISTRATION TO WORK
WITH FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT (FPL) TO ACCOMPLISH THE
UNDERGROUNDING OF UTILITIES WITHIN THE CITY IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE FPL STORM PROTECTION PLAN AND
SUCH OTHER PROGRAMS AS MAY BE APPROVED BY THE FLORIDA
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, AND TO WORK WITH FPL ON ALL
OTHER PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS TO PROTECT AND
STRENGTHEN TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
• INFRASTRUCTURE FROM EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS,
REDUCE OUTAGE TIMES AND RESTORATION COSTS, AND
IMPROVE OVERALL SERVICE RELIABILITY TO CUSTOMERS.
WHEREAS, since the historic hurricane seasons of 2004-2005, Florida Power and Light
("FPL") has launched several "hardening" initiatives across the State of Florida in order to protect
and strengthen transmission and distribution infrastructure from extreme weather conditions,
reduce outage times and restoration costs, and improve overall service reliability to customers;
and
WHEREAS, these initiatives are set forth in FPL's Storm Protection Plan ("SPP")approved
by the Florida Public Service Commission ("FPSC"), as may be amended or modified from time
to time upon approval by the FPSC; and
WHEREAS, included in FPL's current FPSC-approved SPP is the Distribution Lateral
Hardening Program ("Lateral Hardening Program"), whereby FPL targets certain overhead
laterals that were impacted by recent storms and have a history of vegetation-related outages
and other reliability issues for conversion from overhead to underground; and
WHEREAS, an analysis conducted by FPL after the 2023 storm season demonstrated
significantly better performance of underground laterals compared to overhead laterals, with
underground neighborhood lines performing approximately 12 times better following Hurricane
Idalia; and
WHEREAS, timelines for Lateral Hardening Program projects are dictated by prioritization
criteria approved by the FPSC, which currently include: power line performance during previous
named storms, outages on power lines due to vegetation issues, and performance of power lines
during day-to-day operations; and
WHEREAS, currently, more than 50% of FPL customers in the City of Miami Beach (the
"City") already receive their power via underground service; and
WHEREAS, the City currently has several overhead lateral lines currently projected to be
converted to underground as part of FPL's Lateral Hardening Program by 2031, which estimate
may change based on application of the FPSC-approved prioritization criteria or future
modifications to the SPP (as may be approved by the FPSC); and
WHEREAS, the City reserves the right to opt out of the Lateral Hardening Program and
instead may voluntarily agree to pay the costs associated with undergrounding these laterals
through a community-led process in which the City would lead the project; and
WHEREAS, in a community-led undergrounding.process, all up-front costs are paid by
the City, which the City would recover through the implementation of one or more special
assessment districts; and
WHEREAS, if the City elects to implement one or more special assessment districts to
recover the upfront costs associated with community-led undergrounding process, each property
owner must either pay the full cost of the assessment upfront or over a ten-year period, which
adds a financing cost; and
WHEREAS, conversely, if the City declines to voluntarily pursue a community-led
undergrounding process, there are no upfront out-of-pocket costs required for converting these
overhead laterals to underground, which may be converted to underground in accordance with
the Lateral Hardening Program included in FPL's SPP, which may be amended from time to time
upon FPSC approval; and
WHEREAS, upon FPSC approval, all costs incurred under FPL's SPP, including costs
associated with the Lateral Hardening Program, are allocated to and recovered from all FPL
customers systemwide through a Storm Protection Plan Cost Recovery Charge, which is
reviewed and reset annually by the FPSC; and
WHEREAS, for a typical residential 1,000-kWh customer, the Storm Protection Plan Cost
Recovery Charge was less than $4 a month in 2023; and
WHEREAS, by declining to pursue a community-led undergrounding process for the City's
overhead utilities, there would be no need for the City to lead the project or impose new taxes on
residents; and
WHEREAS, based on the foregoing, the City Commission proposes to not pursue a
community-led undergrounding process for the City's overhead utilities (unless a neighborhood
specifically requests to create a special assessment district to fund underground conversion for
that neighborhood) and, instead, the City Commission elects to have the City's overhead laterals
converted, as applicable, through the Lateral Hardening Program included in FPL's SPP, as may
be amended from time to time upon FPSC approval, which will avoid imposing new taxes on City
residents; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission recognizes that implementing the Lateral Hardening
Program and such other FPSC-approved projects related to overhead-to-underground electric
infrastructure conversion and hardening are subject to changes based on actual conditions
experienced and requirements or modifications adopted by the FPSC; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission is committed to continue working with FPL to facilitate
any potential SPP projects, which includes the lateral hardening, distribution and transmission
inspections, feeder hardening, transmission hardening, vegetation management, and flood
mitigation projects in order to strengthen the City's energy grid and increase service reliability for
residents.
2
NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
BEACH, FLORIDA:
SECTION 1. That the foregoing recitals are hereby ratified and confirmed as being true and
correct and are hereby made a specific part of this Resolution upon the adoption hereof.
SECTION 2. That the City Commission hereby directs staff to'work expeditiously with FPL to
facilitate the successful implementation of SPP projects citywide. This includes, but is not limited
to, preparing a utilities relocation agreement with FPL, developing an enhanced and expedited
permitting process for SPP projects, providing the public with information about upcoming SPP
projects as it becomes available from FPL, and working with telecommunications providers and
other overhead non-electric utilities to underground their infrastructure.
PASSED and ADOPTED this a4 day of J ' , , 2024.
ATTEST:
A ..--116141.4146.4.1"aL
7\11 IUI — 3 2024 Steven Meiner, Mayor
Rafael E. Granado, City Clerk
V►PPROVED AS TO FORM AND
INLOAP UMW LANGUAGE AND FOR EXECUTIONCD.
.
City Attorney NV__ Date
Sponsored by Mayor Steven Meiner
CORINN A by Commissioner Laura Dominguez
Co-Sponsored by Commissioner Alex J.Fernandez .
3
Resolutions -C7 Y
MIAMI BEACH
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Rickelle Williams, Interim City Manager
DATE: June 26, 2024
TITLE: A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE LAND
USE AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE AND DIRECTING THE CITY
ADMINISTRATION TO WORK WITH FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT (FPL) TO
ACCOMPLISH THE UNDERGROUNDING OF UTILITIES WITHIN THE CITY IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE FPL STORM PROTECTION PLAN AND SUCH OTHER
PROGRAMS AS MAY BE APPROVED BY THE FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICE
COMMISSION, AND TO WORK WITH FPL ON ALL OTHER PLANNED
IMPROVEMENTS TO PROTECT AND STRENGTHEN TRANSMISSION AND
DISTRIBUTION INFRASTRUCTURE FROM EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS,
REDUCE OUTAGE TIMES AND RESTORATION COSTS, AND IMPROVE.
OVERALL SERVICE RELIABILITY TO CUSTOMERS.
RECOMMENDATION
The Administration recommends approving the resolution.
BACKGROUND/HISTORY
At its May 17, 2023 City Commission meeting, the Mayor and City Commission approved a dual
referral to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee (PSNQLC) and, by
acclamation, the Land Use and Sustainability Committee (LUSC) to discuss Florida Power and
Light's(FPL)Storm Secure Underground Program(SSUP), also known as the Distribution Lateral
Hardening Program, and opportunities for identifying Miami Beach neighborhoods that would be
eligible for undergrounding of power lines through this program.The Storm Protection Plan (SPP)
is funded through the Storm Protection Cost Recovery Charge and is already included in the
monthly bill for all FPL customers system wide. This charge is reviewed and reset by the FPSC
on an annual basis.
The Distribution Lateral Hardening Program is one of several programs included in FPL's SPP,
which has been approved by the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) and is intended to
protect and strengthen transmission and distribution infrastructure from extreme weather
conditions, reduce outage times and restoration costs, and improve overall service reliability to
customers. The following is a list of all programs included in the SPP:
1. Distribution Inspection Program
The FPL Distribution Inspection Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-2029 SPP and
2023-2032 SPP. The Distribution Inspection Program is an eight (8)-year pole inspection cycle
for all distribution poles that targets approximately 1/8 of the system annually (the actual number
of poles inspected can vary somewhat from year to year).
2. Transmission Inspection Program
The FPL Transmission Inspection Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-2029 SPP and
2023-2032 SPP. Under this program, FPL inspects transmission circuits, substations, and other
equipment on a cyclical basis. FPL performs a climbing or bucket truck inspection on a six (6)-
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year cycle for all wooden transmission poles/structures and on a ten (10)-year cycle for all
concrete or steel transmission poles/structures. All of FPL's transmission structures, including
substation equipment, are visually inspected each year. Transmission structures that do not pass
inspection are designated for repair or replacement.
3. Distribution Feeder Hardening Program
The FPL Distribution Feeder Hardening Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-2029 SPP
and 2023-2032 SPP. Under this program, FPL hardens existing distribution feeders and certain
critical distribution poles, as well as designs and constructs new pole lines and major planned
work, to meet the National Electrical Safety Code's ("NESC") extreme wind loading criteria
("EWL").
4. Distribution Lateral Hardening Program
The FPL Distribution Lateral Hardening Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-2029 SPP
and 2023-2032 SPP. Under this program, FPL targets certain overhead laterals that were
impacted by recent storms and have a history of vegetation-related outages and other reliability
issues for conversion from overhead to underground.
The FPL Distribution Lateral Hardening Program also includes protocols for evaluating when
laterals may be overhead hardened as opposed to being placed underground.
5. Transmission Hardening Program
The FPL Transmission Hardening Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-2029 SPP and
2023-2032 SPP. Under this program, FPL hardens transmission structures, substations, and
other equipment to ensure a more storm resilient transmission system. As part of the
Transmission Hardening Program, FPL will replace all wood transmission structures with steel or
concrete structures throughout its service area.
6. Distribution Vegetation Management Program
The FPL Distribution Vegetation Management Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-2029
SPP and 2023-2032 SPP. This program consists of a system-wide three (3)-year average
vegetation maintenance cycle for feeders; mid-cycle targeted vegetation maintenance for certain
feeders; six(6)-year average vegetation maintenance cycle for laterals; and continued education
of customers through its Right Tree, Right Place initiative.
7. Transmission Vegetation Management Program
The FPL Transmission Vegetation Management Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-
2029 SPP and 2023-2032 SPP. This program is necessary to comply with the North American
Electric Reliability Corporation's ("NERC")vegetation management standards and requirements.
The Transmission Vegetation Management Program includes visual and aerial inspections of
transmission line corridors, Light Detection and Ranging ("LiDAR") inspections of NERC
transmission line corridors, development and execution of annual work plans to address identified
vegetation conditions, and identifying and addressing priority and hazard tree conditions prior to
and during storm season.
8. Substation Storm Surge/ Flood Mitigation Program
FPL's Substation Storm Surge/Flood Mitigation Program was approved as part of FPL's 2020-
2029 SPP and 2023-2032 SPP. FPL has identified certain substations located in areas throughout
its service area that are susceptible to storm surge or flooding during extreme weather events.
Under this program, FPL plans to raise the equipment at certain substations above the flood level
and/or construct flood protection walls around the substations to prevent/mitigate future damage
due to storm surges and flooding.
The SPP selection and prioritization criteria is applied by FPL on a non-discriminatory basis
throughout FPL's service area in order to address the worst performing circuits first based on
actual historical experience. Specifically,the program analyzes data from power line performance
during previous named storms, outages on power lines due to vegetation issues, and
performance of power lines during day-to-day operations to identify neighborhood power lines
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(laterals)that are most affected according to the metrics.
FPL has evaluated every neighborhood power line (lateral) in its service territory, including an
assessment of Miami Beach lateral power lines. Based on FPL's criteria and metrics, it was the
understanding of the Administration that FPL does not expect to complete any Distribution Lateral
Hardening projects in Miami beach during 2024.
The Public Works Department engaged in discussions with FPL and Stantec about the program
and the alternative voluntary community led conversion process where the City would need to
agree to pay the costs associated with the undergrounding of neighborhood lateral power lines
within Miami Beach.
Based upon the available information, the Administration continues to recommend to have its
neighborhood lateral power lines converted from overhead to underground through FPL's
SSUP. In 2023, sponsoring Commissioners, Arriola and Meiner requested a referral to the Land
Use and Sustainability Committee (LUSC) to further discuss the program, potential resident
eligibility and appropriate steps the Administration and/or City Commission would need to take to
participate.
At its June 20, 2023 LUSC meeting, FPL representatives presented a PowerPoint Presentation
on the undergrounding program. A motion was made to continue the item to the September 27,
2023 meeting with the following direction:
a.) Have the Administration explore retaining an engineering consultant to navigate the FPL
process, including potential benefits. In August 2023, Public Works issued a notice to proceed to
Stantec to perform consulting services necessary for the FPL SSUP Program.
b.) Have Public Works coordinate with FPL to obtain all relevant and available information specific
to Miami Beach as it pertains to eligibility for undergrounding and related improvements. FPL
gathered the requested information and presented it at the September 27, 2023 LUSC.
At its September 27, 2023 LUSC meeting, FPL presented an updated PowerPoint presentation
on the underground program. A motion was made to continue the discussion to the October 11,
2023 LUSC, which was deferred per FPL's request. At the October 2023 meeting, sponsoring
Commissioners Arriola and Meiner requested that, since their official term would be completed
the following month, that Commissioners Dominguez and Fernandez be added as new sponsors,
to continue this discussion.
At its May 1, 2024 meeting, FPL presented a PowerPoint presentation on their Storm Protection
Plan. At the end of the discussion, a motion was made to move the item to the City Commission,
with a favorable recommendation to adopt the Resolution accompanied in this memo, directing
the Administration to work with FPL to accomplish the undergrounding of utilities within the City
in accordance with the FPL's Storm Protection Plan and such other programs as may be approved
by the Florida Public Service Commission, and to work with FPL on all other planned
improvements to protect and strengthen transmission and distribution infrastructure from extreme
weather conditions, reduce outage times and restoration costs, and improve overall service
reliability to customers.
FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
No fiscal impact.
•
Does this Ordinance require a Business Impact Estimate?
(FOR ORDINANCES ONLY)
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The Business Impact Estimate (BIE)was published on . See BIE at:
https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/city-hall/city-clerk/meeting-notices/
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
N/A
CONCLUSION
The Administration recommends approving the resolution.
Applicable Area
Citywide
Is this a "Residents Right to Know" item, Is this item related to a G.O. Bond
pursuant to City Code Section 2-17? Project?
Yes No
Was this Agenda Item initially requested by a lobbyist which, as defined in Code Sec. 2-481,
includes a principal engaged in lobbying? No
If so, specify the name of lobbyist(s)and principal(s): N/A
Department
Public Works
Sponsor(s)
Mayor Steven Meiner
Commissioner Laura Dominguez
Commissioner Alex Fernandez
Co-sponsor(s)
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