Five towns weigh plusses, prices of burying power lines.

Byline: Kristi E. Swartz

Jul. 10--There were power poles and wires all over the roads of Jupiter Island after Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne came to call.

"Then you have to repair all of that," said Charles Falcone, a Jupiter Island commissioner and a retired American Electric Power Co. executive. Jupiter Island, a wealthy Martin County settlement, suffers numerous short power outages normally, which Falcone says comes with living in a coastal town with power lines above the ground.

But the mess the storms left behind got officials moving on alternative ways to get their electricity.

Now Jupiter Island is almost ready to bury its power lines.

"We think that underground works," Falcone said. "It's not just from the hurricanes. When it comes to reliability, we find in Florida that we suffer from a lot of other things you just don't get in other states."

Things such as sea-spray corrosion, fast-growing vegetation and frequent lightning strikes. The town is waiting for Florida Power & Light Co. to complete an engineering and design study that would outline where equipment needs to go and how much the project would cost, Falcone said.

"We're very serious about it," he said.

So are at least four other of the richest communities in Palm Beach and Martin counties. But knowing that it's …