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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance - 2313 - Amend Title 14.0ORDINANCE NO. 2313 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CI.TY OF REDDING AMENDING PORTIONS OF REDDING MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 14.04 - UNDERGROUND UTILITY DISTRICTS The City Council of the City of Redding does ordain as follows: Section 1: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.020 (Designation) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.020 Designation. Ao The Council finds that the public necessity, safety and general welfare require the undergrounding of overhead utility facilities. The Council may designate underground utility districts by ordinance. The Council may from time to time call public heatings to ascertain whether the public necessity, general public interest, health or safety requires the removal of poles or overhead wires and associated overhead structures from the public streets, alleys and ways within designated areas of the city. The general public interest may include, but is not limited to, one of the following findings: 1) Such undergrounding will avoid or eliminate an unusually heavy concentration of overhead electric facilities; or 2) The street or road or right-of-way is extensively used by the general public and carries a heavy volume of pedestrian or vehicular traffic; or 3) The street or road or right-of-way adjoins or passes through a civic area or public recreation area or an area ofunusual scenic interest to the general public; or 4) The street or road or right-of-way is considered an arterial street or major collector as defined in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research General Plan Guidelines, as amended. The City Clerk shall notify all affected property owners and utilities by mail of the time and place of such heatings at least fifteen days prior to the.date thereof. Co If, after any such public hearing, the Council finds that the public necessity, general public interest, health or safety require the removal of poles or overhead wires and associated overhead structures, the Council shall, by ordinance, declare the area an underground utility district. The ordinance shall include a description of the area comprising the district and shall fix the time within which the poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures shall be removed, and within which affected property owners must be ready to receive underground service. The Council shall allow a reasonable time for the removal, having due regard for the availability of necessary labor, materials and equipment for the removal, and for the installation of such underground facilities as may be occasioned thereby. Section 2: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.050 (Exemptions - Types of Facilities Designated) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.050 Exemptions - Types of Facilities Designated. A. This chapter shall not apply to the following types of facilities: Pedestals or foundations used exclusively for the support of fire alarm I~oxes, traffic signal control equipment, padmounted utility equipment, or any similar municipal equipment installed to the satisfaction of both the director of municipal utilities and the director of the electric utility for the City; 2. Metal or concrete poles used exclusively for street lighting or traffic signals; Overhead wires of a 60,000-volt or higher transmission system and their support structures crossing any portion of the district; Overhead wires required to be erected on a temporary basis to give emergency service for less than a seven-day period, which period could be extended upon approval by the director of municipal utilities; 5. Radio antennae, their associated equipment and supporting structures; and Overhead wires (exclusive of supporting structures) crossing any portion of an area from which overhead wires have been prohibited, when such wires originate in an area from which poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures are not prohibited; provided; however, 'that no aerial connection from such overhead wires shall be made to buildings within the district. 2 Section 3: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.060 (Notice of District Designation) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.060 Notice of Designation. Ao Within ten days after the passage of an ordinance pursuant to Section 14.04.020, the City clerk shall notify all affected utilities and all persons owning real propertywithin the district described in the ordinance of the adoption thereof. The City clerk shall further notify the property owners of the necessity that, if they or any person occupying such property desire to continue to receive electric, communication or other similar or associated service, they or such occupant shall provide all necessary facility changes on their premises so as to receive such service from the lines of the supplying utility or utilities at a new location, subject to applicable rules, regulations and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the commission and to the requirements of state laws and City policies or ordinances. Bo Notification shall be made by mailing a copy of the ordinance, together with a copy of this chapter to the affected utilities, to affected property owners as they are shown on the last equalized tax roll of the county and to any person occupying, operating, leasing or renting the property, when applicable. Section 4: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.080 (Responsibility for Construction) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.080 Responsibility for Construction. mo Bo Ail underground construction, conduits, conductors, and associated equipment necessary to receive utility service between conductors or underground pipe or conduit of the supplying utility and the service facilities in the building or structure being served shall be provided by the person owning, operating, leasing or renting the property, subject to applicable rules, regulations and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the Commission or to the lawful requirements of state laws or City policies or ordinances. The City's electric utility will reimburse property owners for the reasonable cost of the following Section 14.04.080.A work. Construction of the electric and telephone service laterals from the property line to the service entrance facilities at the property owner's building service or structure. This work includes service trenching, service conduits, and electric service cable but excludes any work required to be performed by any communication utility at its expense as part of a franchise or other agreement with the City. Wherever possible, all the utility service laterals will be installed in a joint utility trench with each utilities' building service entrance point located within five feet of each other. The City electric utility will prepare the utility service trench design on this basis. Conversion of the telephone and electric service entrance facilities in or on buildings/structures being served to accept underground utilities. The reimbursement shall exclude any electric panel upgrades not required by the undergroundconversion or any code violations that the property owner needs to correct. Co The City's electric utility will require the property owner to obtain at least three cost estimates for the work on their property from licensed electrical contractors holding a City business license. Upon receipt of the three cost estimates, the City's electric utility will reimburse the property owner for work performed based on the lowest estimate received. If, however, the City's electric utility director believes that the low cost estimate is unreasonable, it may require that additional estimates be obtained and compensate the property owner on the basis of a lower cost estimate, if such is attained. In the event the person owning, operating, leasing or renting such property does not comply with the provisions of Section 14.04.080.A within the time provided in the ordinance enacted pursuant to Section 14.04.020, the director of municipal utilities shall give notice in writing to the person or persons in possession of the premises, and a notice in writing to the owner thereof, to provide the required underground facilities within thirty days after receipt of the notice. Noncompliance by any person owning, operating, leasing or renting that property with the provisions of this section shall constitute a misdemeanor under Section 14.04.030. Until such time as an notice and order is issued pursuant to Section 14.04.080.D, the supplying utility shall not be in violation of this chapter or the ordinance enacted pursuant to Section 14.04.020 in continuing to maintain overhead facilities necessary to serve such person during the period of such noncompliance and such reasonable time thereafter as may be necessary to remove the facilities. Section 5: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.090 (Notice of Noncompliance- Service) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: 4 Section 14.04.090 Notice of Noncompliance - Service. Notice pursuant to Section 14.04.080.D may be given either by personal service or by mail. In case of service by mail, the notice must be deposited in the United States mail in a sealed envelope with postage prepaid, addressed and mailed to the person in possession of the premises and the notice(s) must also be addressed to the owner thereof as the owner's name appears, and must be addressed to the owner's last known address as it appears on the last equalized tax roll in the County of Shasta, and when no address appears, to General Delivery, Redding, California. If notice is given by mail, the notice shall be deemed to have been received by the person(s) to whom it has been sent within forty-eight hours after the mailing thereof. If notice is given by mail to either the owner or occupant of the premises, the City's director of municipal utilities shall, within forty-eight hours after the mailing thereof, cause a copy thereof printed on a card not less than eight inches by ten inches in size to be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises. Section 6: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.100 (Notice of Noncompliance- Contents) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.100 Notice of Noncompliance - Contents. The notice given pursuant to Section 14.04.080.D shall particularly specify that work is required to be done, and shall state that if the work is not completed within thirty days after receipt of the notice, the director of municipal utilities will provide the underground facilities, in which case all costs and expenses thereof will be assessed against the property benefitted and become a lien upon the property. There will be no reimbursement for the work described in Section 14.04.080.B if the work is not completed by the property owner as requested and the City is forced to perform the work. Section 7: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.110 (Work Performed by City - Cost Assessmen0 of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.110 Work Performed by City - Cost Assessment. If, upon the expiration of the thirty-day period specified in Section 14.04.100, the required underground facilities have not been provided, the director of municipal utilities shall forthwith proceed to do the work; provided however, if the premises are unoccupied and no electric or communication services are being furnished thereto, the director of municipal utilities may, in lieu of providing the required underground facilities, order the disconnection of all existing connections used for furnishing electric and communication services to the premises. Upon completion of the work by the director of municipal utilities, the director shall file a written report with the Council setting forth the fact that the required underground facilities have been provided and th6 cost thereof, together with the legal description of the property against which the cost is to be assessed. The Council shall thereupon fix a time and place for hearing protests against the assessment of the cost of the work upon the premises, which time shall be not less than ten days thereafter. Section 8: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.120 (Work Performed by City - Notice of Hearing) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.120 Work Performed by City - Notice of Hearing. The director of municipal utilities shall forthwith, upon the time for hearing the protests having been fixed, give a notice in writing to the person in possession of the premises and notice in writing to the owner thereof, in the manner provided for in this chapter for the giving of notices to provide the required underground facilities, of the time and place that the Council will pass upon the report of the director of municipal utilities and will hear protests against the assessment. The notice shall also set'forth the amount of the assessment. Section 9: Redding Municipal Code § 14.04.140 (Work Performed by City- Assessment As Lien) of Chapter 14.04 (Underground Utility Districts) is amended as follows: Section 14.04.140 Work Performed by City - Assessment and Lien. Ao As authorized by Government Code § 38793, if any assessment is not paid and received within five business days after its confirmation by the Council, the amount of the assessment shall become a lien upon the property against which the assessment is made by the director of municipal utilities, and the director of municipal utilities shall turn over to the County Assessor-Recorder and County Tax Collector, acting for the City, a notice of lien upon each of the properties on which the assessment has not been paid The County Assessor and County Tax Collector shall add the amount of the assessment to the next regular bill for municipal ad valorem property taxes levied against the premises upon which the assessment was notpaid. The assessment shall be due and payable at the same time as municipal ad valorem property taxes are due and payable, and shall be subject to the same penalties and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquency as provided for such taxes. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of municipal ad valorem taxes shall be applicable to such assessment. 6 Section 10: The passage of this ordinance is not a "project" according to the definition in the California Environmental Quality Act (Pub. Res. Code § 21000 et seq.), and is not subject to the provisions requiring environmental review. Section 11: This ordinance shall take effect 30 days after the date of its adoption, and the City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this ordinance and cause its publication according to law. I HEREBY CERTIFY that this ordinance was introduced and read at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 5th day of August, 2003, and was read and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council on the 19 th day of August ,2003, by the following vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Kight, COUNCIL MEMBERS: None COUNCIL MEMBERS: Cibula COUNCIL MEMBERS: None Mathena, Pohlmeyer and Stegall Attest: Co~u~i~ Str~-hr~a~er, City C~I~ Form Approved: Brad L. Fuller, City Attorney