Kensington Town Councilman Al Carr is currently drafting a letter asking Pepco to consider burying its power lines around the Safeway and down Armory Avenue in town. Carr said he hopes to have the letter completed and sent before the end of the month.

The Town Council looked at a draft of the letter at its meeting on March 1 and asked Carr to make it more concise.

Within the next few years, Safeway hopes to gain approval to construct a new building at the current location. At the same time, the town will pay to improve the storm sewers along Armory Avenue. Since there will be digging going on there, Carr said it would be convenient to ask Pepco to bury utility lines.

Combining the line burial could mitigate some of the cost of putting the lines underground, he said.

"We have a history in Kensington of problems with the reliability of electricity," Carr said.

The town is requesting the lines be buried on portions of Connecticut, Howard and Knowles avenues surrounding the Safeway property and the entire length of Armory Avenue from Howard Avenue to Baltimore Street -- about three blocks.

"It's a small part, but it's a critical part," Carr said. The new lines would make electricity more reliable to Town Hall, which also serves as an emergency shelter during crisis, he said, such as during the Amtrack train derailment in town in July 2002.

Kensington Mayor Lynn Raufaste said burying the power lines would also improve the aesthetics of town. While it may not be practical to bury lines throughout the entire town, she said the goal is to eventually have the utility lines buried through the town's commercial district along Connecticut Avenue.

Bob Dobkin, a spokesperson for Pepco, said the utility company would have to look into the details of the town's proposal before making a decision. The cost of doing such work is often prohibitive, he said.

While moving lines above ground on poles costs about $100,000 per mile, he said putting lines underground can cost $1 million to $5 million per mile.

If other construction work is also going on, Dobkin said that could create an opportunity. However, if a town or customer wants lines buried for cosmetic reasons, he said the customer pays for the work.

Depending on the details, however, he said Pepco might be willing to work with the town on cost.

"There's other customers on the poles," he said. "All the utilities have to be involved in it."

In Kensington, this includes phone and cable lines as well.

Dobkin said state law has required new subdivisions and commercial construction to put utility lines underground for about 30 years.

Allen Mushinsky, the project architect for the new Kensington Safeway, said any utility lines on the Safeway property will be buried underground when the new building is constructed.

Raufaste said the town budget is stretched, but officials are still interested in hearing from Pepco about the feasibility of burying the lines as they begin to look at next year's budget.

The town's current annual budget is $1.9 million. The council will introduce a draft of next year's budget in April and is scheduled to adopt it in May. The town's annual budget cycle begins on July 1.

"I just know it's very expensive," she said.