Laguna Niguel Municipal Code Art. 6 Bus Passenger Shelters and Benches

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, adopted Sept. 7, 1993, amended former Art. 6, §§ 7-1-120—7-1-131, relative to bus passenger shelters and benches, in its entirety to read as herein set out. The provisions of former Art. 6 derived from Ord. No. 90-11, § 6, adopted March 6, 1990.

(a) No person shall erect, place, construct or maintain a bus shelter or a bus bench on any highway in the city. No encroachment permit, or similar type of permit, shall be issued which allows the erection, placement, construction, or maintenance of any bus shelter or bus bench on any highway in the city.

(b) Notwithstanding anything in this article to the contrary, the City of Laguna Niguel or the Laguna Niguel Community Services District may erect, place, construct, and maintain on any highway in the city bus shelters or bus benches which do not have commercial advertising.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

As used in this article:

(a) Highway means all or any part of the entire width of right-of-way of any highway located in the city, whether or not such entire area is actually used for highway purposes. (The term Highway as used in this definition is more specifically defined in section 7-1-1 of this Code.)

(b) Bus shelter or shelter means a covered waiting area located upon a highway, often semi-enclosed, with a bench, that provides protection from sun, wind and rain for passersby or persons awaiting transportation.

(c) Bus bench or bench means a seat located upon a highway for the comfort, convenience and accommodation of passersby or persons awaiting transportation.

(d) Director means the director of public works, and includes those employees of the public works department authorized to act for the director.

(e) Person includes, but is not limited to, individuals, partnerships, corporations and associations.

(f) Encroachment permit or permit means prescribed written approval for placement of shelters and benches on a highway. Master permit is an annual permit form used for setting forth all requirements and conditions for approval. Permit rider is that form used for approval of each shelter or bench location subject to conditions of master permit.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

(a) Notwithstanding anything in this article to the contrary, bus shelters, including bus shelters with advertising, and bus benches may be erected, placed, constructed, and maintained on any highway in the city when said bus shelters or bus benches have been erected, placed, constructed, or maintained pursuant to a written agreement between the owner of said bus shelters and bus benches and the city.

(b) Any such agreement shall include, but not be limited to, the following: the authorized number of bus shelters and bus benches, the location of bus shelters, fees to be paid to city by the owner for the bus shelters, the design of bus shelters and bus benches, maintenance of bus shelters and benches, allowance of advertising on bus shelters, relocation or removal of bus shelters, surety and liability insurance requirement for the bus shelters.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

The provisions of this article are applicable to all areas included in the City of Laguna Niguel, including all of the areas that are subject to regulations in planned community or specific plan texts; and to the extent that there are any conflicts between the regulations contained in any planned community or specific plan texts and the provisions of this article, the provisions of this article shall supersede the provisions in the planned community or specific plan text.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

(a) Shelters and/or benches shall be located only at approved public transportation stops, including school bus stops.

(b) Shelters and/or benches shall be installed only at locations where a curb separates the travelway from the sidewalk or parkway. Shelters and/or benches shall be set back from the face of curb a distance not less than eighteen (18) inches and such that an unobstructed minimum pedestrian travelway of four (4) feet will be provided.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

When bus shelters with advertising are allowed by the provisions of this article, such shelters shall only be used for advertising material and public service announcements. There shall be no advertising which promotes or illustrates a tobacco product or alcoholic beverage product. There shall be no advertising which depicts any act of immoral, violent, or debasing nature. There shall be no advertising that uses words, phrases, symbols, or characters that resemble traffic signals, such as the words "Stop," "Drive-In" or "Danger," or any other word, phrase, symbol, or character which might interfere with, mislead, or direct vehicular traffic.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

(a) The owner or person responsible for the erection, placement, construction and maintenance of any bus shelter or bench that is erected, placed, constructed, or maintained on any highway in the city shall pay fees for each such bus shelter or bus bench. The amount of said fees shall be established by either or both of the following: (1) By a written agreement between the owner and the city pursuant to section 7-1-120; (2) By the adoption of a fee schedule by the city council.

(b) As to bus shelters or bus benches that were erected, placed, constructed and/or maintained prior to the amendment of this article in August 1993, the owner or person responsible for the erection, placement, construction and maintenance of any such bus shelter and/or bus bench shall be responsible for paying fees for each bus shelter or bus bench for the time that said shelter or bench was located on city highways, and that obligation to pay fees shall remain in existence even after the shelter or bench is removed.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

Upon the expiration or revocation of any permit rider, the permittee shall forthwith remove such shelter or bench from the highway. The director may give the permittee ten days' notice to remove the shelter or bench and upon his failure to do so may remove and store the shelter or bench pending recovery thereof by the permittee, or its sale, destruction or other disposition, as hereinafter provided. The director shall store the shelter or bench for at least 30 days after its removal during which time the permittee may recover the shelter or bench by paying the city for the cost of such removal and storage. Said costs shall not exceed $300.00 a month per shelter and $100.00 a month per bench for removal and storage. At the expiration of said 30-day period, the director shall salvage such structure for public use on public property, or he may have it destroyed. All of the foregoing shall be at the sole risk of the permittee and shall be in addition to any other remedy which the city may have by law.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, with the exception of an authorized city official, or the permittee or his agent, to tamper with or move any shelter and/or bench lawfully placed upon a highway pursuant to the provisions of this article.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to injure, deface or commit acts of vandalism upon any shelter and/or bench lawfully placed upon a highway, pursuant to the provisions of this article.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)

The director shall enforce the provisions of this article.

(Ord. No. 93-67, § 2, 9-7-93)