Salinas Municipal Code § 30-61 Same—Service

For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:

Commission. The Public Utilities Commission of the state.

Poles and Overhead Wires and Associated Overhead Structures. Poles, towers, supports, wires, conductors, guys, stubs, platforms, crossarms, braces, transformers, insulators, cut-outs, switches, communication circuits, appliances, attachments and appurtenances located above ground upon, along, across or over the public streets, alleys and ways of the city and used or useful in supplying electric, communication or similar or associated service.

Utility. All persons or entities supplying electric, communication or similar or associated service by means of electrical materials or devices.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 1.)

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 and overhead wires and associated overhead structures from any public streets, alleys or ways within designated areas of the city and the underground installation of wires and facilities for supplying electric, communications, or similar or associated service. The city clerk shall notify all affected property owners and utilities by mail of the time and place of such hearings at 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. No. 1239 (NCS), § 2.)

If after any such public hearing the council finds that the public necessity, health, safety or welfare requires such removal and such underground installation, the council shall by ordinance order such removal and underground installation. The ordinance shall designate the public streets, alleys or ways, or portions thereof, from which such poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures must be removed and such underground installation made, and shall fix the time within which such work must be done. A reasonable time shall be allowed for such removal and underground installation, having due regard for the availability of necessary labor, materials and equipment for such removal and for the installation of such underground facilities as may be occasioned thereby.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 3.)

Whenever the council orders the removal of poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures as provided in Section 30-53, it shall be unlawful for any person or utility to erect, construct, place, keep, maintain, continue, employ or operate any pole, overhead wire or associated overhead structure in any public street, alley or way in the designated area after the date when such overhead facilities are required to be removed, except as such overhead facilities may be required to furnish service to an owner or occupant of property prior to the performance by such owner or occupant or the city engineer of the underground work necessary for such owner or occupant to continue to receive utility service as provided in Sections 30-60 and 30-63, and for such reasonable time required to remove the facilities after such work has been performed, and except as otherwise provided in this article.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 4.)

The council may grant special permission, on such terms as the council may deem appropriate, in cases of emergency or unusual circumstances, without discrimination, to any person or utility, to erect, construct, install, maintain, use or operate poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures, notwithstanding any other provisions of this article. The grant of such special permission may include, but need not be limited to, the right to erect, construct, install, maintain, use or operate an electric distribution system consisting of metal poles supporting high-voltage wires, switches, transformers and street lights, with all other facilities for the supplying and distribution of electric energy and service placed underground.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 5.)

The provisions of this article shall not apply to poles used exclusively for fire alarm boxes or any other municipal equipment installed under the supervision and to the satisfaction of the city engineer, or to poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures used exclusively for street lighting furnished under contract with the city or by any other duly constituted public agency authorized to provide such street lighting within the city.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 6.)

This article shall not apply to the following types of facilities:

(a) Wires of a continuous lead crossing any portion of the area from which overhead wires have been prohibited, or connecting to buildings on the perimeter of such portion, when such continuous lead originates in an area from which poles and overhead wires and associated overhead structures are not prohibited;

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

(c) Radio antennae, their associated equipment and supporting structures, used by a utility for furnishing communication services; or

(d) Service terminals, in pedestals, aboveground, used to distribute communication service in underground systems.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 7.)

Within ten days after passage of an ordinance pursuant to Section 30-53, the city clerk shall notify all affected utilities and all persons owning real property within the area designated in such ordinance of the adoption thereof. The 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 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.

Notification by the city clerk shall be made by mailing a copy of the ordinance to the affected utilities and to the affected property owners as such are shown on the last equalized assessment roll of the County of Monterey.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 8; Ord. No. 1972 (NCS), § 1.)

If underground construction is necessary to provide utility service within the area affected by any ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 30-53, 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. Underground construction by the utility shall be accomplished in accordance with established construction standards and in accordance with the rules and regulations authorized by the commission.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 9.)

All underground construction and conduits, conductors and associated equipment necessary to receive utility service between the service terminals 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. If the above is not accomplished by any person within the time provided for in the ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 30-53, the city engineer shall give notice in writing to the person in possession of such premises, and a notice in writing to the owner thereof to provide the required underground facilities within ten days after receipt of such notice.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 10.)

Notice pursuant to Section 30-60 may be given either by personal service or by mail. In case of service by mail, the notice shall be deposited in the United States mail in a sealed envelope with postage prepaid, addressed to the person in possession of such premises at such premises, and the notice shall be addressed to the owner thereof as such owner's name appears and shall be addressed to such owner's last known address as the same appears on the last equalized assessment roll of the County of Monterey, and, when no address appears, to General Delivery, City of Salinas. If notice is given by mail, such notice shall be deemed to have been received by the person 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 the occupant of such premises, the city engineer 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.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 10.1.)

The notice given pursuant to Section 30-60 shall particularly specify what work is required to be done, and shall state that if such work is not completed within ten days after receipt of such notice the city engineer will provide such required underground facilities, in which case the cost and expense thereof will be assessed against the property benefited and become a lien upon such property.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 10.2.)

If, upon the expiration of the ten day period specified in Section 30-62, the required underground facilities have not been provided, the city engineer shall forthwith proceed to do the work; provided, however, if such premises are unoccupied and no electric or communication services are being furnished thereto, the city engineer may, in lieu of providing the required underground facilities, order the disconnection of all existing connections used for furnishing electric and communication services to such premises. Upon completion of the work by the city engineer, he shall file a written report with the council setting forth the fact that the required underground facilities have been provided and the cost thereof, together with a legal description of the property against which such cost is to be assessed. The council shall thereupon fix a time and place for hearing protests against the assessment of the cost of such work upon such premises, which time shall be not less than ten days thereafter.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 10.3.)

The city engineer shall forthwith, upon the time for hearing such protests having been fixed, give a notice in writing to the person in possession of such premises, and a notice in writing to the owner thereof, in the manner hereinabove provided for the giving of the notice to provide the required underground facilities, of the time and place that the council will pass upon the report of the city engineer and will hear protests against such assessment. Such notice shall also set forth the amount of the proposed assessment.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 10.4.)

Upon the date and hour set for the hearing of protests, the council shall hear and consider the report and all protests, if there be any, and then proceed to affirm, modify or reject the assessment.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 10.5.)

If any assessment is not paid within five 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 city engineer, and the city engineer shall turn over to the assessor and tax collector a notice of lien on each of such properties on which the assessment has not been paid, and the assessor and tax collector shall add the amount of assessment to the next regular bill for taxes levied against the premises upon which such assessment was not paid. The assessment shall be due and payable at the same time as property taxes are due and payable, and if not paid when due and payable shall bear interest at the rate of six percent per annum.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 10.6.)

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 ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 30-53.

(Ord. No. 1239 (NCS), § 11.)

In the event that any act hereby required of any party herein referred to cannot be performed within the time herein provided on account of shortage of materials, war, restraint by public authorities, strikes, labor disturbances 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. No. 1239 (NCS), § 12.)

Section 30-70 provides an alternative system to that provided in Sections 30-58 through 30-68, by which overhead electric service and communications facilities may be removed and installed underground and the costs chargeable to affected owners assessed upon the benefited real properties within the area.

(Ord. No. 1349 (NCS), § 1.)

The council may take proceedings, singly or in conjunction with the acquisition or construction of other local improvements, for the removal of such facilities and for their installation underground, and assess the costs chargeable to affected owners upon the real properties within the area, pursuant to general law or procedure ordinances of the city. In such event, jurisdiction to do so shall be acquired as provided for other local improvements, and no further petitions or requests shall be required; provided, that before any work may be performed on a parcel of land the written consent of the owner shall be had or an easement or right of possession shall have been obtained in the manner provided by law.

(Ord. No. 1349 (NCS), § 1.)

In addition to the undergrounding of utilities that may be required by the procedures of Sections 30-58 through 30-70, the council may, by resolution, enumerate those portions of the streets along which all new utility service connections made after the effective date of this section shall be installed underground for attachment to existing above or below ground service and distribution facilities.

In addition to the above specified locations, all new buildings requiring new services shall have their utility service connections installed underground for attachment to existing above or below ground service and distribution facilities.

(Ord. No. 1665 (NCS), § 1(a); Ord. No. 1741 (NCS), § 1.)

The owner of property subject to the requirements of Section 30-70.5 shall be responsible for full compliance therewith and shall bear all costs of underground construction and installation, subject to the supplying utilities' rules, regulations, and tariffs on file with the California Public Utility Commission.

(Ord. No. 1665 (NCS), § 1(b).)

The director of public works may waive, in whole or in part, the requirements of Section 30-70.5, upon a determination that underground installation would be economically or practically unfeasible; provided, however, all required termination facilities on the structure and conduit, at least to the outer building wall, at a point designated by the serving utility, shall be furnished and installed to facilitate future connections to an underground system.

(Ord. No. 1665 (NCS), § 1(c).)