[jessaustin]

It seems dumb that poles are uncommon in an area with little topsoil over a granite substrate? Why so fancy? Incidentally this could mean that the trailer parks are cheaper to serve than swankier neighborhoods; there are lots of poles in trailer parks.

[sigstoat]

winter storms and strong winds. i've never lost power in the boulder area, except when a substation failed, regardless of the weather. when i lived in areas with overhead lines, power loss was a regular event, occurring during winds that would be considered mild in boulder.

[jessaustin]

Regularly trimming trees around the power line seems less expensive than boring through granite? The frequency of storm-related outages is a good proxy for how much the power company is spending on vegetation removal.

[msbarnett]

> Regularly trimming trees around the power line seems less expensive than boring through granite?

That's not going to do anything to stop ice from forming on the lines, which is a far bigger problem in the winter than tree falls.

[gascan]

The front range gets 100mph+ chinook winds, and late spring storms dump feet of heavy snow leading to what we affectionately call "treemageddon", during which town will be filled with the thunder of trees crashing down for hours and hours. It's not an ideal environment for lines on poles.

[monocasa]

It's quite a battle as we also get gale force winds coming off of the mountains so often that it's not news, just a normal Tuesday.

[monocasa]

It's Boulder, houses are getting close to California levels. The cheapest starter homes are around $700k.

[sanderjd]

FWIW, the market appears to have cooled down a bit this spring. It remains to be seen whether that's a blip or a trend.

[sigstoat]

there are at least 3 trailer parks in boulder, maybe more. i wonder how prices in them have changed over the years? :)

[monocasa]

A single wide is about $300k, but there's a five year waiting list.