Fresno Municipal Code Art. XIII Franchises

Any person, firm or corporation furnishing the City or its inhabitants with transportation communication, terminal facilities, water, light, heat, electricity, gas, power, refrigeration, storage or any other public utility or service, or using the public streets, ways, alleys or places for operation of plants, works or equipment for the furnishing thereof, or traversing any portion of the City for the transmitting or conveying of any such service elsewhere, may be required by ordinance to have a valid and existing franchise therefor. The Council is empowered to grant such franchise to any person, firm, corporation, whether operating under an existing franchise or not, and to prescribe the terms and conditions of any such grant. It may also provide, by procedural ordinance, the method of procedure and additional terms and conditions of such grants, or the making thereof, all subject to the provisions of this Charter.

Nothing in this section, or elsewhere in this article, shall apply to the City, or to any department thereof, when furnishing any such utility or service.

Before granting any franchise, the Council shall pass a resolution declaring its intention to grant the same, stating the name of the proposed grantee, the character of the franchise and the terms and conditions upon which it is proposed to be granted. Such resolution shall fix and set forth the day, hour and place when and where any persons having any interest therein or any objection to the granting thereof may appear before the Council and be heard thereon. It shall direct the City Clerk to publish said resolution at least once, within fifteen days of the passage thereof, in a newspaper of general circulation within the City. Said notice shall be published at least ten days prior to the date of the hearing.

At the time set for the hearing, or at any adjournment thereof, the Council shall proceed to hear and pass upon all protests and its decision thereon shall be final and conclusive. Thereafter it may by ordinance grant the franchise on the terms and conditions specified in the resolution of intention to grant the same, subject to the right of referendum of the people, or it may deny the same. If the Council shall determine that changes should be made in the terms and conditions upon which the franchise is proposed to be granted, a new resolution of intention shall be adopted and like proceedings had thereon.

Every franchise shall state the term for which it is granted, which shall not exceed fifty years.

No franchise grant shall in any way, or to any extent, impair or affect the right of the city to acquire the property of the grantee thereof either by purchase or through the exercise of the right of eminent domain, and nothing therein contained shall be construed to contract away or to modify or to abridge, either for a term or in perpetuity, the city's right of eminent domain with respect to any public utility.

In respect of a railroad corporation, as such term is used in Section 7555 of the Public Utilities Code of California, the term "franchise" as used in this article includes "franchise or permit" as used in said Section 7555.