Chapter 12.16 — IMPROVEMENTS GENERALLY

It is unlawful for any person to circulate a petition requesting the Council to order the improvement of any street pursuant to the terms of ordinance or statute, or to solicit private contracts for the improvement of such street without first having obtained permission so to do from the Director of Public Works/Superintendent of Streets.

Any person desiring said permit shall first file with the Director of Public Works/Superintendent of Streets a written statement showing location, type, character and description of said work in such detail as said Director of Public Works/Superintendent of Streets may require. Said Director of Public Works/Superintendent of Streets, if he or she is of the opinion that public necessity and convenience require the doing of said work, that the proposed improvement is feasible and beneficial, and the cost is not prohibitive, may grant permission to circulate such petition or solicit such private contract for the doing of said work; provided, however, that the Director of Public Works/Superintendent of Streets may rescind any permit granted under the provisions of this section.

Such permission, together with a copy of said written statement, shall be attached to said petition or contract, and shall be exhibited to the signer before his or her signature is obtained.

Each request for a signature to such petition or contract in violation hereof shall be considered a separate and distinct violation.

(Prior code § 6-2.19)

The intent of Sections 12.16.020 to 12.16.070 is to supplement other laws, ordinances and statutes requiring street improvements, including curb, gutter, and sidewalk in public streets areas.

(Prior code § 6-2.191)

A.

New Construction. No building or other structure shall be erected, no building addition or alteration improvements shall be constructed, no other property improvements shall be made where the cost of said improvements will be in excess of forty-five thousand dollars ($45,000.00), and no building or other permit shall be issued therefor by the city on any lot unless that portion of the abutting street lying between the centerline of said street and the lot line for the full width of all abutting street frontages has been fully improved in accordance with the improvement standards specified in Section 12.16.050, or unless said improvements have been assured to the satisfaction of the City Engineer as specified in Section 12.16.040.

"Property improvements," as referred to herein, means all buildings, structures, fixtures, and fences, erected on or affixed to the land, excepting telephone and telegraph lines.

B.

Authorization to Revise Threshold Value. The value of private construction improvements that invoke the requirement for construction of abutting street improvements may be revised, from time to time, by the Director of Planning and Building as construction costs escalate or de-escalate as determined by the Building Cost Index for the San Francisco Bay Region, as reported in the Engineering News Record. Any revision made by the Director shall supersede the amount stated in subsection A of this section.

C.

Exception. The requirements stated in subsections A and B of this section shall not apply to property in zoning districts where residential development is restricted to single-family dwellings. The foregoing shall not restrict requirements for improvements required pursuant to any other law or regulation including, by way of example, but not as a limitation, any of the applicable real estate subdivision regulations.

D.

Requirements for Permit. For the purposes of this section, street improvements as required by subsections A and B of this section shall be considered as satisfactorily assured when the City Engineer: (1) accepts plans and specifications meeting his or her approval as required by Section 12.16.050; (2) enters into an agreement with the owner or applicant required to make said street improvements as provided in Section 12.16.040; and (3) accepts an improvement security as provided in Section 12.16.040. When all of the street improvements required by this section have been assured as provided by Section 12.16.040 or completed to the satisfaction of the City Engineer, he or she shall notify the Building Division or other permit issuing department, and a building permit or other permit may then be issued.

(Prior code § 6-2.192)

A.

General Procedure. Any person required to make street improvements by the provisions of Section 12.16.030 shall either construct and complete the improvements according to the procedure established by the City Engineer for construction of improvements in street areas, and in conformance with the standards set forth in Section 12.16.050, or shall provide the City Engineer with plans and specifications meeting his or her approval and an improvement security as provided herein, and enter into an agreement with the City Engineer as provided herein.

A cash inspection deposit, as is currently required by the City Engineer, shall be made at the time that the plans and specifications approved by the City Engineer, are obtained for construction by the owner or contractor for the street improvement work.

B.

Deferment of Improvements. Whenever the owner requests that the required street improvements be deferred, the City Engineer is authorized to enter into an agreement with the persons required to make said improvements. This agreement, among other conditions and provisions, shall provide a time limit or completion date to be met by said persons required to make said street improvements. The time limit or completion date shall not exceed one year from the date of issuance of the building permit or other permit.

The agreement shall also require, and the persons required to make said street improvements shall provide the city with an improvement security as defined in subsection C of this section. Any such agreement shall be subject to the approval by the City Attorney prior to its execution by the City Engineer. Any extensions of time for completion requested beyond the one-year period hereinabove stated shall be subject to the approval of the City Council.

C.

Improvement Security.

"Improvement security" as used in this section means one or more of the following:

a.

A cash deposit or deposits made with the city;

b.

A bond or bonds by one or more duly authorized corporate sureties; or

c.

An instrument or instruments of credit from one or more financial institutions subject to regulation by the state or federal government pledging that the funds necessary to meet the performance are on deposit and guaranteed for payment and agreeing that the funds designated by the instrument shall become trust funds for the purposes set forth in the instrument.

Said improvement security shall be in the amounts and for the following purposes:

a.

An amount, determined by the City Engineer, of one hundred (100) percent of the total estimated cost of the improvement, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the agreement or contract; and

b.

An additional amount equal to fifty (50) percent of the total estimated cost of the improvement, securing payment to the contractor, his or her subcontractors and to persons renting equipment for furnishing labor or materials to them for the improvement.

Improvement security may be released or reduced in whole or in part in the following manner:

a.

Improvement security given for faithful performance of the agreement or contract may be released upon final completion and acceptance of the work or the City Engineer may provide for the partial release of the improvement security upon the acceptance of portions of the work as it progresses.

b.

Improvement security securing the payment to the contractor, his or her subcontractors and to persons renting equipment or furnishing labor or materials may, six months after the completion and acceptance of the work, be reduced to an amount not less than the total of all claims on which an action has been filed and notice thereof given in writing to the City Engineer; and if there are no actions filed, the improvement security may be released in full.

The City Engineer is authorized to release or reduce the improvement security under the above set forth conditions and in accordance with such rules as he or she may prescribe.

The liability of the improvement security, as defined herein, shall be confined to:

a.

The performance of the work covered by the agreement or contract between the persons required to make said street improvement, and the City Engineer;

b.

The performance of any changes or alterations in such work; provided, that all such changes or alterations do not exceed ten percent of the original estimated cost of the improvement.

D.

Guarantee. The owner shall require his or her contractor to guarantee the work, in general, for one year after acceptance by the city. The contractor shall be held responsible for and must correct or repair any defects arising or discovered in any part of his or her work within a one-year period after acceptance of the work by the city. The contractor shall not be required to perform any further work thereon, beyond the said one year, except upon such items as may be reserved specifically in the plans and specifications or in the formal written acceptance.

(Prior code § 6-2.193)

All improvements to be constructed under this section shall be at the abutting property owner's expense and installed according to City standards and shall consist of pavement, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, storm drainage including conduits and inlet structures, and any other structures such as retaining walls, public stairways, etc., as required by the City Engineer in accordance with Chapter 12.02. Plans and specifications shall be prepared at the owner's expense by a civil engineer registered in the State of

California and no work in public area shall be started until said plans and specifications have been approved by the City Engineer. Where the existing street conforms to grades acceptable to the City Engineer and the required street improvements consist of sidewalk and/or curb and gutter only, plans and specifications will not be required and the work may be done with a sidewalk-driveway-curb-gutter permit.

(Ord. No. 13153, § 2, 2-19-2013; Prior code § 6-2.194)

When the City Engineer finds that the provisions of Sections 12.16.020 to 12.16.050 are applicable to any building or other permit application, he or she shall inform the permit applicant and property owner of such determination in writing and shall prescribe the specific requirements of these sections which he or she finds to be applicable, and shall advise the owner and applicant that any request for waivers from his or her determination must be requested in writing, be for good cause, and be filed within 30 days after notification of his or her determination. If a request for a waiver is filed, the City Engineer shall hold a hearing on such request within 30 days after receipt of such request. The City Engineer shall notify the applicant and owner of the time and place of such hearing at least ten days prior to said hearing date.

When the City Engineer determines that conditions of terrain or existing improvements contiguous to the property involved so warrant, he or she may, based on said good cause, approve and allow variations and deviations from the requirements set forth in Section 12.16.050 as he or she determines warranted. Whenever uncertainty exists as to the proper application of the requirements of the provisions of Sections 12.16.030 through 12.16.050, the City Engineer shall determine the applicability of the requirements, consistent with the intent of these sections.

(Prior code § 6-2.195)

Any person required to make street improvements under the provisions of Sections 12.16.020 to 12.16.060 may appeal any determination made by the City Engineer in the enforcement or administration of these provisions to the City Manager. Such an appeal shall be made in writing and shall state in clear and concise language the grounds therefor, and shall be filed with the Office of Public Works within ten days of the date of the City Engineer's notice of denial of any request for waiver of required street improvements.

The City Manager may make such modifications in the requirements of these provisions or may grant such waivers or modifications of the determinations which are appealed to him or her as he or she shall determine are warranted to prevent any unreasonable hardship under the facts of each case, provided that such modification or waiver is in conformity with the general intent of the requirements of these provisions.

(Prior code § 6-2.196)

The Office of Finance is authorized to develop and implement procedures and regulations, as and when needed, controlling the City's issuance of plans and specifications of work for which the City Council or other authorized municipal body is asking for bids in connection with public works contracts.

(Prior code § 6-2.263)