§ 8207-2.5. Underground utilities.

Except as otherwise provided in this Code, all utility facilities including, but not limited to, electric lines, communication lines, cable television lines, street lighting power supply lines and appurtenances thereto, shall be placed underground and all utility facilities including service laterals shall be installed in the ground prior to the paving of streets. The County Surveyor may authorize installation of utility facilities after street improvements are installed if the installation will not require reconstruction or repair of the street improvements or if unusual circumstances so warrant. Certain utility appurtenances including, but not limited to, transformers, pedestal-mounted terminal boxes and meter cabinets, and concealed ducts used in connection with underground facilities which cannot be placed underground without unreasonable expense, may be placed on the surface of the ground. All necessary arrangements for the installation of utilities shall be made with the operator of each proposed subdivision utility system pursuant to this Section. This Section shall not apply to utility lines carrying 33 kilovolts or more. At the time of approval of the tentative map, the Advisory Agency may modify this requirement for all or part of a subdivision where it would cause unreasonable hardship. Factors the Advisory Agency shall use in determining whether this requirement should be modified are:

(a)

Steep topography of all or part of the subdivision where the lines must be located;

(b)

Soil types which would make trenching difficult;

(c)

The extent to which the facilities would be visible from public roads or other lots if they were not underground;

(d)

The need for lines which, due to the large size of the lots, would be unreasonably costly to underground; and

(e)

Other physical features, such as high groundwater table or large outcroppings of boulders along most of the feasible route, which would make trenching difficult.