Mercer County Housing Authority wants to give the Sharpsville Gardens public housing a more Victorian look, but might not be able to remedy a problem the Victorians did not have to deal with -- electric and telephone lines.

Greer Hayden of HHSDR Architects and Engineers, Sharon, presented exterior modernization plans to the housing authority board Wednesday that include adding cupolas, weather vanes, exterior lighting fixtures, new roofs and siding.

That approach was decided on after meetings with borough officials, said Executive Director L. DeWitt Boosel.

"We're trying as best we can to capture the Victorian flair of the area," Boosel said.

Each unit also would have a rear porch and green space designated for each tenant to use and maintain, he said.

The design follows the desire for safe and controllable space that officials have used in other modernization and development projects.

While the authority is accepting bids for the project, it still might have to cut the project further.

The authority had been looking at a $1.8 million project, but scaled back to get it to an estimated $1.2 million, the amount available from a federal modernization grant, Boosel said.

However, recent estimates from Pennsylvania Power Co. and Verizon to bury electric and telephone wires has again driven up the cost, Boosel said.

In the past, the authority has used general operations funds to pay for some of the extra work the modernization grant does not cover, but a decrease in federal subsidy has tightened the budget and made that less likely this year, Boosel said.

Boosel said he could use a subsequent year's modernization grant, but doesn't want to do that because it likely would push back work on other authority communities.

The scope of work that is being bid on will cost an estimated $1.3 million with the quotes from the utility companies.

The authority wants to remove all the poles and wires and put the wires underground. That will improve the look of the community and make the apartments more appealing to potential tenants, Boosel said.

Penn Power would charge $55,000 to bury its lines, and Verizon would charge $56,000, Boosel said. The authority would be responsible for digging the trenches and laying conduit through which the lines would be pulled.

Boosel believes the costs are out of line, especially when compared with the charges of doing the same type of work at Valley View Homes in Mercer.

Penn Power charged $17,000 for the Valley View project, and Verizon, $7,000, Boosel said. Sharpsville has 60 apartments and Valley View, 31.

Boosel said the authority has not been able to get the utilities to give details on what those charges are for.

"I am not very pleased, at this point, with the utility companies," Boosel said. "It seems they are looking at this as another revenue stream."

Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said all the charges are regulated and approved by the Public Utility Commission, leaving Verizon little flexibility.

Verizon would charge for pulling the cables through the conduit, splicing wires, moving terminals on buildings and poles, and removing poles and old wires, Gierczynski said.

Randy Coleman, area manager for Penn Power, said the PUC does not regulate the cost of every nut and bolt, but the utility's books are "regularly scrutinized" by the PUC.

He added that Penn Power is charging only for its cost. "There is no profit margin here," he said. "There's no markup."

Penn Power would charge for removing poles, wires and transformers, installing new transformers and wires, and making the connections, Coleman said.

The power company also would have to maintain electric service during construction, he said, adding that it would be "cheaper and easier" for the authority to dig the trenches and lay the conduit than to have the power company do it.

In the case of Verizon, the Valley View cost is seemingly out of line with Sharpsville because the telephone company agreed to pay part of the cost, Gierczynski said.

The Valley View work resulted in an upgrade to the existing network -- which Verizon probably would have eventually done anyway -- while the Sharpsville project would not, he said.

The total Valley View cost was about $20,000, with the phone company absorbing $13,000, Gierczynski said.

Coleman said he cannot compare Valley View to Sharpsville Gardens without knowing details such as how many poles, feet of wire, connections and transformers are involved.

Coleman added that the changes the authority is requesting for Sharpsville are "purely cosmetic" and would not improve service to the area.

"We want to help out in any way we can, but we're not in the practice of subsidizing something like this," Coleman said.

Boosel said the authority maintenance staff cannot do the wire work, and the authority is not willing to ask a private firm because that would require the authority or its contractor to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the lines in the future.

The authority has not decided what to do. It could abandon the idea or compromise, as it did in the Centennial Place project -- the redevelopment of the former Steel City Terrace, Farrell, and the surrounding neighborhood. The authority had to back off its plans to totally bury utility lines in Farrell because of cost. Instead, the lines are buried from the utility poles to the houses.

Modernization coordinator Ken Chuzie said there might be a way to rearrange the lines in Sharpsville to make them less conspicuous.

Board member the Rev. Robert Chavers said it doesn't matter to him if the lines are visible or not. "I want to turn the switch on and get light," he said.