Santa Barbara County Municipal Code § 34-5 Maintenance, construction, etc., of overhead wire, etc., prohibited within…

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

Commission. The Public Utilities Commission of the State of California.

Person. Individuals, firms, corporations, partnerships and their agents and employees.

Poles, Overhead Wires and Associated Overhead Structures. Poles, towers, supports, wires, conductors, guys, stubs, platforms, crossarms, braces, transformers, insulators, cutouts, switches, communication circuits, appliances, attachments and appurtenances located aboveground within a district and used or useful in supplying electric, communication or similar or associated service.

Underground Utility District or District. That area in the county within which poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures are prohibited as such area is described in a resolution adopted pursuant to the provisions of section 34-4.

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

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1)

The board of supervisors 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 county and the underground installation of wires and facilities for supplying electric, communication, or similar or associated service. The county 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 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 board of supervisors shall be final and conclusive.

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1)

Prior to holding such public hearing, the road commissioner shall consult with all affected utilities and shall prepare a report for submission at such hearing containing, among other information, the extent of such utilities' participation and estimates of the total costs to the county and affected property owners. Such report shall also contain an estimate of the time required to complete such underground installation and removal of overhead facilities.

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1)

If, after any such public hearing the board of supervisors find that the public necessity, health, safety or welfare requires such removal and such underground installation within a designated area, the board of supervisors shall, by 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. No. 1899, § 1)

Whenever the board of supervisors creates an underground utility district and orders the removal of poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures therein as provided in section 34-4 hereof, it shall be 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 the overhead facilities are required to be removed by such resolution, except as the 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 34-10, and for such reasonable time required to remove the facilities after the work has been performed, and except as otherwise provided in this article.

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1)

In any district formed under the provisions of this chapter, overhead facilities may be installed and maintained for a period, not to exceed ten days, without authority of the road commissioner in order to provide emergency service. The road commissioner may grant special permission, on such terms as the road commissioner 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. No. 1899, § 1)

In any resolution adopted pursuant to section 34-4, the county shall authorize any or all of the following exceptions:

(a) Any county facilities or equipment installed under the supervision and to the satisfaction of the director of public works.

(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 overhead structures used for the transmission of electric energy at nominal voltages 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 on 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. No. 1899, § 1)

Within ten days after the effective date of a resolution adopted pursuant to section 34-4, the county clerk shall notify all affected utilities and all persons owning real property within the district created by the resolution of the adoption thereof. The county 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 the applicable rules, regulations and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the Commission.

Notification by the county clerk shall be made by mailing a copy of the resolution adopted pursuant to section 34-4, together with a copy of this chapter, to affected property owners as such are shown on the last equalized assessment roll and to the affected utilities.

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1)

If underground construction is necessary to provide utility service within a district created by any resolution adopted pursuant to section 34-4, 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. No. 1899, § 1)

(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 34-9, and including the termination facility on or within the building or structure being served, all in accordance with the 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 such property does not comply with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section within the time provided for in the resolution enacted pursuant to section 34-4 hereof, the road commissioner may post written notice of such noncompliance on the property being served. After thirty days following such posting, the road commissioner may authorize the disconnection and removal of any and all overhead service wires and associated facilities supplying utility service to said property.

(c) In the alternative, in the event that any person owning, operating, leasing, occupying or renting said property does not comply with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section within the time provided for in the resolution enacted pursuant to section 34-4 hereof, the road commissioner may, on request of the owner, cause said work to be performed and recover the cost therefor from the owner of the premises by assessment as follows:

(1) The road commissioner shall obtain such request and waiver as may be required by law from an owner of the real property prior to performing the work required.

(2) Upon completion of the work, the road commissioner shall submit a written report setting forth the required underground facilities that have been provided and the costs thereof, addressed to the owner at the address supplied by the owner and with a copy mailed to the owner at the address where the service has been provided. Any owner of the real property shall have the right and opportunity to protest the performance of any work which was unnecessary or not required under the provisions of this chapter and/or any unreasonable costs incurred for work required under the provisions of this chapter. The owner shall have thirty days from and after the mailing of said report to make such protest. The road commissioner shall arrange a meeting with said owner regarding the protest or, if that is not possible, provide the owner with reasonable notice of a hearing for the resolution of such protest. Upon conclusion of the hearing or meeting, the road commissioner shall determine the protest and notify the owner by mailing a written determination to the owner at the address where the service has been provided, at the address last appearing on the assessor's published records, and to any address supplied by the owner for this purpose. Such determination may be appealed to the board of supervisors within twenty days of the date of mailing of the notice of determination.

(3) At or following the appeal of such costs to the board of supervisors, or upon failure to protest or failure to appeal a determination about the costs to be assessed, the road commissioner shall present his report of such costs to the board of supervisors for assessment and collection with property taxes. Notice of the time and place of such hearing before the board of supervisors shall be given by mail to the owner at the address where service is supplied, at the address last appearing on the assessor's published records, and to any address supplied by the owner for this purpose.

(4) If such costs remain unpaid at the time they are reported to the board of supervisors, the board may by resolution or minute order direct that they be assessed against the real property benefited and collected with the property taxes for said real property. The board may place such conditions or modifications on the assessment as may be appropriate. The county auditor-controller and county tax collector shall assess and collect such costs as are directed by the board of supervisors. The assessment shall be due and payable, and if not paid, shall become a lien on the property and shall be delinquent as and subject to the same interest and penalties as are property taxes.

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1; Ord. No. 3696, § 1)

The county shall remove at its own expense all county-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 34-4.

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1)

In the event that any act required by this chapter or by a resolution adopted pursuant to section 34-4 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 may be extended by the board of supervisors for a period equivalent to the time of such limitation, upon a showing of satisfactory evidence.

(Ord. No. 1899, § 1)