Rohnert Park Municipal Code Ch. 12.12 Underground Utilities

Whenever in this chapter the words or phrases hereinafter in this section defined are used, they shall have the respective meanings assigned to them in the following definitions:

A. "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission of the state.

B. "Person" means and includes individuals, firms, corporations, partnerships, and their agents and employees.

C. "Poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures" mean poles, towers, supports, wires, conductors, guys, stubs, platforms, cross arms, braces, transformers, insulators, cutouts, switches, communication circuits, appliances, attachments and appurtenances located aboveground within a district and used or useful in supplying electric, communications or similar or associated service.

D. "Underground utility district" or "district" means that area in the city within which poles, overhead wires, associated overhead structures are prohibited as such area is described in a resolution adopted pursuant to the provisions of Section 12.12.030 of this chapter.

E. "Utility" includes all persons or entities supplying electric, communication or similar or associated service by means of electrical materials or devices.

(Ord. 101 § 1, 1968)

The council may from time to time call public hearings to ascertain whether the public necessity, health, safety or welfare requires the removal of poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures within designated areas of the city and the underground installation of wires and facilities for supplying electric, communication, or similar or associated service. The city clerk shall notify all affected property owners as shown on the last equalized assessment roll and utilities concerned, by mail, of the time and place of such hearings as least ten days prior to the date thereof. Each such hearing shall be open to the public and may be continued from time to time. At each such hearing all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard. The decision of the council shall be final and conclusive.

(Ord. 101 § 2, 1968)

If after any such public hearing the council finds that the public necessity, health, safety or welfare requires such removal and such underground installation within a designated area, the council shall, be resolution, declare such designated area an underground utility district and order such removal and underground installation. Such resolution shall include a description of the area comprising such district and shall fix the time within which such removal and underground installation shall be accomplished and within which affected property owners must be ready to receive underground service. A reasonable time shall be allowed for such removal and underground installation, having due regard for the availability of labor, materials, and equipment necessary for such removal and for the installation of such underground facilities as may be occasioned thereby.

(Ord. 101 § 3, 1968)

Whenever the council creates an underground utility district and orders the removal of poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures therein as provided in Section 12.12.030, it is unlawful for any person or utility to erect, construct, place, keep, maintain, continue, employ or operate poles, overhead wires, and associated overhead structures in the district after the date when said overhead facilities are required to be removed by such resolution, except as said overhead facilities may be required to furnish service to an owner or occupant of property prior to the performance by such owner or occupant of the underground work necessary for such owner or occupant to continue to receive utility service as provided in Section 12.12.090, and for such reasonable time required to remove said facilities after said work has been performed and except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

(Ord. 101 § 4, 1968)

Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, overhead facilities may be installed and maintained for a period, not to exceed ten days, without authority of the council* in order to provide emergency service. The council* may grant special permission on such terms as the council* may deem appropriate in cases of unusual circumstances, without discrimination as to any person or utility, to erect, construct, install, maintain, use or operate poles, overhead wires, and associated overhead structures.

(Ord. 101 § 5, 1968)

* If the city prefers, this could be the director of public works or some other appropriate city official.

In any resolution adopted pursuant to Section 12.12.030, the city may authorize any or all of the following exceptions:

A. Any municipal facilities or equipment installed under the supervision and to the satisfaction of the city engineer;

B. Poles, or electroliers used exclusively for street lighting;

C. Overhead wires, exclusive of supporting structures, crossing any portion of a district within which overhead wires have been prohibited, or connecting to buildings on the perimeter of a district, when such wires originate in an area from which poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures are not prohibited;

D. Poles, overhead wires and associated structures used for the transmission of electric energy at a nominal voltage in excess of thirty-four thousand five hundred volts;

E. Overhead wires attached to the exterior surface of a building by means of a bracket or other fixture and extending from one location of the building to another location on the same building or to an adjacent building without crossing any public street;

F. Antennae, associated equipment, and supporting structures used by a utility for furnishing communication services;

G. Equipment appurtenant to underground facilities, such as surface mounted transformers, pedestal mounted terminal boxes and meter cabinets, and concealed ducts;

H. Temporary poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures used or to be used in conjunction with construction projects.

(Ord. 101 § 6, 1968)

Within ten days after the effective date of a resolution adopted pursuant to Section 12.12.030 the city clerk shall notify all affected utilities and all persons owning real property within the district created by said resolution of the adoption thereof. Said city clerk shall further notify such affected property owners of the necessity that, if they or any person occupying such property desire to continue to receive electric, communication, or 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.

Notification by the city clerk shall be made by mailing a copy of the resolution adopted pursuant to Section 12.12.030, together with a copy of this chapter, to affected property owners as such as shown on the last equalized assessment roll and to the affected utilities.

(Ord. 101 § 7, 1968)

If underground construction is necessary to provide utility service within a district created by any resolution adopted pursuant to Section 12.12.030, the supplying utility shall furnish that portion of the conduits, conductors and associated equipment required to be furnished by it under its applicable rules, regulations and tariffs on file with the commission.

(Ord. 101 § 8, 1968)

A. Every person owning, operating, leasing, occupying or renting a building or structure within a district shall construct and provide that portion of the service connection on his property between the facilities referred to in Section 12.12.080 and the termination facility on or within said building or structure being served, subject to applicable rules, regulations and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the commission.

B. In the event any person owning, operating, leasing, occupying or renting said property does not comply with the provisions of subparagraph A of this section within the time provided for in the resolution enacted pursuant to Section 12.12.030, the city engineer shall post written notice on the property being served and thirty days thereafter shall have the authority to order the disconnection and removal of any and all overhead service wires and associated facilities supplying utility service to said property.

(Ord. 101 § 9, 1968)

The city shall remove at its own expense all city-owned equipment from all poles required to be removed hereunder in ample time to enable the owner or user of such poles to remove the same within the time specified in the resolution enacted pursuant to Section 12.12.030.

(Ord. 101 § 10, 1968)

In the event that any act required by this chapter or by a resolution adopted pursuant to Section 12.12.030 cannot be performed within the time provided on account of shortage of materials, war, restraint by public authorities, strikes, labor disturbances, civil disobedience, or any other circumstances beyond the control of the actor, then the time within which such act will be accomplished shall be extended for a period equivalent to the time of such limitation.

(Ord. 101 § 11, 1968)

Any person violating any of the provisions or failing to comply with any of the mandatory requirements of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor unless by ordinance the violation is made an infraction. Except in cases where a different punishment is prescribed by any ordinance of the city, any person convicted of a misdemeanor under the ordinances of the city shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not to exceed six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Every violation determined to be an infraction is punishable by: (A) a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for a first violation; (B) a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for a second violation of the same ordinance within one year; (C) a fine not exceeding two hundred fifty dollars for each additional violation of the same ordinance within one year.

Each such person shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of any provision of the ordinances of the city is committed, continued or permitted by any such person, and he shall be punished accordingly.

(Ord. 293 §§ l (part), 2 (part), 1975: Ord. 255 § l (part), 1975: Ord. 101 § 12, 1968)