January 9, 2005

Elroy Holtman
Paul Chan
Victor Lassey

We are writing to inform you that the Board of Directors of the Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association has reviewed the plans for undergrounding Piedmont Pines verbally communicated to us by Mr. Paul Chan. We urge you to proceed with these plans as soon as you can.

Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association is a non-profit association of home and property owners organized for their welfare and the improvement of Piedmont Pines. The organization was founded in 1941 and consists of over 1,200 properties.

We have been discussing the feasibility of utility undergrounding with our members for nearly two decades, and have had detailed communication about the project since 1999, when Piedmont Pines rose to the top of the list maintained by the city’s public works department. We believe we have a solid understanding of the priorities of our neighbors.
Already this season we have experienced numerous power outages that inconvenience all of us and pose serious safety and property damage and costs for many.

A majority of residents voted in favor of under grounding in a ballot conducted in 1999. The City Council confirmed that vote by approving formation of an underground utility district in May 2000.

It is our understanding that the recommendation is to divide Piedmont Pines’ undergrounding into three separate 20A-only projects with each project being formed under a separate Assessment District. A possible fourth project might be formed to pick up all of the remaining 20B streets in the Piedmont Pines area.

As we understand it, the three projects would progress as follows: 1) Ascot Drive and Wilton Drive (which is the continuation of Ascot along the Redwood Regional Park), 2) Chelton Drive and
3) Castle Drive and Skyline Drive. Some side streets will be part of each phase where engineering considerations dictate their inclusion.

We also understand that the possibility of forming three underground Assessment Districts has been discussed with the city attorney and that there has been verbal advice that it is possible, but we have not yet seen written confirmation.

While this is contrary to all of our work and efforts to include more of the streets within Piedmont Pines into the undergrounding plans, and is contrary also to the city’s own traffic studies that showed all but Shirley Drive should be included, we have agreed to the city’s current plan as the most feasible at this time, and urge you to get the project underway as soon as possible.

Our Board of Directors has taken this action without a specific vote on this new plan by our membership. We have discussed this possibility at two general membership meetings and we will publish this letter and explanation on our website, and by Email to those who have given us their Email addresses. Once we have more precise information we will poll our affected membership in each Assessment District.

We are also requesting an early meeting with the appropriate Public Works Electrical Services department, engineering and utility undergrounding managers and representatives of the utilities so that we can understand as specifically as possible the steps that must be taken to proceed and the timeline as best you can determine it at this time. Then we can inform our membership more fully on the plan to underground the utilities of Piedmont Pines.

We greatly appreciate your support in the past and look forward to working with you in the future to accomplish the long-awaited undergrounding of Piedmont Pines.

Sincerely,

Richard L. Spees
President

CC: Jean Quan
John Russo
Sue Piper