LAGUNA BEACH — The city is moving ahead with a survey to determine whether residents would be willing to foot the bills to bury overhead power lines along the city’s major evacuation routes and in neighborhoods to reduce the threat of fires.

The City Council last week voted unanimously to spend $240,000 for a group of consultants to develop and oversee the survey and to prepare a timeline and action plan for one or more ballot measures for the November 2018 ballot.

City officials say they want to pursue a bond measure to pay for burying power lines along evacuation routes, including Bluebird Canyon Road, Park Avenue and Virginia Way, and a community ballot measure to finance taking down power lines in neighborhoods.

In October, the City Council directed staff to work with Mayor Pro Tem Rob Zur Schmiede and Councilman Bob Whalen, who are part of a subcommittee looking to reduce the threat of fire from overhead power lines and poles.

The council also established a list of solutions, which includes allotting $3 million in available city funds and $4 million available in the next two fiscal years to bury the lines along the city’s evacuation routes.

“I feel strongly about presenting this to the voters,” Whalen said at the Dec. 5 meeting.

Whalen, who has been pushing to move lines and poles underground for several years, talked about the fires that have consumed thousands of acres of brush in surrounding counties in the past week.

“Given our safety threats we have certain obligations,” he said. “We need to approach the voters in the city to see if they support a citywide measure to underground along the evacuation routes.”

The citywide survey, now targeted at more than 500 property owners, would also be a way to determine the structure of the finance plan. The surveys, by TBWB Strategies and FM3, will be done in January using land lines, cellphones and online queries, city officials said.

Excluding utilities lines along Laguna Canyon Road, which are covered in a separate master plan for the canyon, there are 128,000 feet of overhead utilities citywide, according to a staff report. About 21,000 feet of the overhead utilities are along the major evacuation routes. City officials say it would cost $20.4 million to underground utilities in 11 evacuation areas, at a cost of $1,000 per foot.

Mayor Kelly Boyd said he had received comments from residents who worried they would have to pay twice.

“People have said, ‘We’ve already paid for our undergrounding, now we have to pay for someone else’s?’ he said.” We have to be careful how we approach this.”

About 10 residents weighed in on the plan, most in support of the survey.

“I believe this should be the highest priority,” said Tom Gibbs, an eight-year resident. “Those power lines represent the the biggest threat to community safety.

“With the recent winds, people in town have been very concerned about its impact on power lines, he said. “The time is now. I’ve found a lot of grassroots support for this. … It’s not just me; it’s lives, homes and memories.”

Matt Lawson, chairman of the city’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, supported the council’s plan.

“The only difference between Laguna Beach and the other cities that are burning (last week) is the fact that we are at much higher risk,” he said. “This is a matter of great urgency and is an incentive for everyone to move forward. We are literally all in this together.”