Santa Ana Municipal Code Art. XIII Franchises

The term "the streets of the City" as used in this article shall include streets, ways, alleys, avenues, highways, boulevards, concourses, driveways, bridges, parks, parkways, and public grounds or waters within or belonging to the City.

Subject to the provisions of this charter, the City Council shall have the power in behalf of the City to grant franchises or rights or make contracts providing for the furnishing of the City and its inhabitants with transportation, communications, terminal facilities, water, light, heat, power, refrigeration and storage, or any other public utility or service, or using the streets of the City for the operation of plants, works, or equipment for the furnishing thereof, or traversing any portion of the streets of the City for the transmitting or conveying of any such service elsewhere.

The City Council may grant a franchise to any person, firm, or corporation, whether operating under an existing franchise or not, and may prescribe the terms and conditions of any such grant. The City Council may also provide, by procedural ordinance, the method of procedure and additional terms and conditions for making such grants, subject to the provisions of this charter.

No grant of any franchise may be transferred or assigned by the grantee except by consent in writing of the City Council and unless the transferee or assignee thereof shall covenant and agree to perform and be bound by each and all of the terms and conditions imposed in the grant or by procedural ordinance and by this charter.

The City may issue permits for the construction of spur or side tracks in and over the streets of the City and the running of cars thereon for the purpose of connecting warehouses, factories, or other business industries and enterprises with any line of railroad within the City, upon such terms and subject to such regulations and conditions as shall be prescribed from time to time by ordinance. Such tracks shall be used for the transportation of freight only and shall not be used as a main line or part thereof. Such tracks must be laid and operated in such manner and under such restrictions as not to interfere with the use of the streets of the City by the public. All such permits shall be revocable at the pleasure of the City Council.

Every franchise shall state the term for which it is granted, which, unless it be indeterminate as provided for herein, shall not exceed twenty-five (25) years.

A franchise grant may be indeterminate, that is to say, it may provide that it shall endure in full force and effect until the same, with the consent of the public utilities commission or its successors of the State of California, or the interstate commerce commission as the case may be, shall be voluntarily surrendered or abandoned by its possessors, or until the State of California, or some municipal or public corporation, thereunto duly authorized by law, shall purchase by voluntary agreement or shall condemn and take, under the power of eminent domain, all property actually used and useful in the exercise of such franchise and situate within the territorial limits of the state, municipal, or public corporation purchasing or condemning such property, or until the franchise shall be forfeited for noncompliance with its terms by the possessor thereof.

Any franchise granted by the City with respect to any given utility service shall be in lieu of all other franchises, rights, or, privileges owned by the grantee, or by any successor of the grantee to any right under such franchise, for the rendering of such utility service within the limits of the City as they may now or hereafter exist, except any franchises derived under section 19 of Article XI of the Constitution of the State of California as said section existed prior to amendment thereof adopted October 10, 1911. The acceptance of any franchise hereunder, shall operate as an abandonment of all such franchises, rights, and privileges within the limits of the City as such limits shall at any time exist, in lieu of which such franchise shall be granted.

Any franchise granted hereunder shall not become effective until written acceptance thereof shall have been filed by the grantee thereof with the City Clerk. Such acceptance shall be filed within thirty (30) days after the adoption of the ordinance granting the franchise, or any extension thereof granted by the City Council, and when so filed, such acceptance shall constitute a continuing agreement of such grantee that if and when the City shall thereafter annex, or consolidate with, additional territory, any and all franchises, rights, and privileges owned by the grantee therein, except a franchise derived under said constitutional provision, shall likewise be deemed to be abandoned within the limits of such territory.

(Res. No. 2022-044, 8-2-22, approved at the election 11-8-22)

Before granting any franchise, the City 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 City Council and be heard thereon. The City Council shall direct the City Clerk to publish said resolution at least once within fifteen (15) days of the passage thereof, in the official newspaper. The time fixed for such hearing shall not be less than twenty (20) nor more than sixty (60) days after the passage of said resolution. At the time set for the hearing, the City Council shall proceed to hear and pass upon all protests and its decision thereon shall be final and conclusive. Thereafter, it may grant, or deny, the franchise, subject to the right of referendum of the people.

(Res. No. 2022-044, 8-2-22, approved at the election 11-8-22)

By its acceptance of any franchise hereunder, the grantee shall covenant and agree to perform and be bound by each and all of the terms and conditions imposed in the grant, or by procedural ordinance, and shall further agree to:

(a) Comply with all lawful ordinances, rules, and regulations theretofore or thereafter adopted by the City Council in the exercise of its police power governing the construction, maintenance, and operation of the grantee's plants, works, or equipment;

(b) Pay to the City on demand the cost of all repairs to the public property made necessary by any of the operations of the grantee under such franchise;

(c) Indemnify and hold harmless the City and its officers from any and all liability for damages proximately resulting from any operations under such franchise;

(d) Remove and relocate without expense to the City any facilities installed, used, and maintained under the franchise if and when made necessary by any lawful change of grade, alignment, or width of any public street, way, alley, or place that is not a freeway to which all rights of access have been acquired by the State of California, including the construction of any subway or viaduct, or if the public health, comfort, welfare, convenience, or safety so demands;

(e) Pay to the City during the life of the franchise a percentage, to be specified in the grant, of the gross annual receipts of the grantee within the limits of the City, or such other compensation as the City Council may prescribe in the grant.

The exercise by any person, firm, or corporation of any privilege for which a franchise is required, without possessing a valid and existing franchise therefor, shall be a misdemeanor and shall be punishable in the same manner as violations of this charter are punishable and each day that such condition continues to exist shall constitute a separate violation.

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 herein 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 the event that any public utility shall be taken over by the City, by purchase or through the exercise of the right of eminent domain, the franchise shall have no value.

No public utility owned by the City shall be sold, leased, or otherwise transferred unless authorized by the affirmative votes of two-thirds (⅔) of the electors voting on such proposition at a general or special election at which such proposition is submitted.