NAPLES, Fla. — On Monday, Naples city leaders said growing tougher against hurricanes means placing Florida Power & Light power lines underground in three communities.
It's a project the city has worked on with FPL in the pastand is now looking at starting in the communities of Port Royal, Aqualane Shores, and Royal Harbor.
On Monday during a Naples city council meeting council member Beth Petrunoff said it's a project she can see spanning across the city in the future.
“I can't imagine we wouldn't want to encourage this in these three neighborhoods, as well as other neighborhoods,” said Petrunoff.
Bill Powell lives in Royal Harbor.
“I would like to see the powerlines down,” said Powell.
Powell said Hurricane Ian destroyed several homes in his Naples Bay community and knocked out power for over a week.
In a presentation from FPL, that said it can take roughly two years from program introduction to final installation.
On Monday Naples city leaders agreed to use the three communities' right of way to install the infrastructure of the power lines.
Regardless, city leaders said homeowners and their homeowner's associations still need to all be in agreement to install the lines.
On Monday, Naples City Manager, Jay Boodheshwar said deadlines and costs will become clearer as the project and its approval move forward.
