Ukiah Municipal Code Art. 2 Street Trench Cut Cost Recovery Fee

For purposes of this Article:

(A)

“Applicant”

shall mean any Owner, or duly authorized agent of such Owner, who has submitted an application for a permit to excavate.

(B)

“City street”

shall mean any public right-of-way which has been accepted, or is hereafter accepted, by the City Council or is otherwise treated as part of the City maintained street system.

(C)

“Department”

shall mean the Department of Public Works.

(D)

“Director”

shall mean the Director of the Department of Public Works or their designee.

(E)

“Excavation” or “Excavate”

shall mean any opening in the surface or subsurface of the public right-of-way.

(F)

“Facility” or “facilities”

shall mean any and all cables, cabinets, ducts, conduits, converters, equipment, drains, handholds, manholes, pipes, pipelines, splice boxes, surface location markers, tunnels, utilities, vaults, and other appurtenances or tangible things owned, leased, operated, or licensed by an Owner or Person, that are located or are proposed to be located in the public right-of-way.

(G)

“Owner”

shall mean any person, including any agency, department, or subdivision of the City, who owns any facility or facilities that are or are proposed to be installed or maintained in or removed from the public right-of-way.

(H)

“Permit” or “permit to excavate”

shall mean a permit to perform an excavation as it has been approved or may be amended or renewed by the Department, including an encroachment permit.

(I)

“Person”

shall mean any natural person, corporation, partnership, or any governmental agency, including any agency, department, or subdivision of the City, the State of California, or the United States of America.

(J)

“Public right-of-way”

shall mean the area across, along, beneath, in, on, over, under, upon, or otherwise within the public alleys, boulevards, courts, lanes, places, roads, sidewalks, City streets, and ways within the City, as they now exist or hereafter will exist and which are or will be under the permitting jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works.

(K)

“Seal coat”

means a nonstructural road surface treatment designed to increase pavement life, such as a chip seal or a slurry seal.

(L)

“Square foot trench repair reimbursement fee”

is the fee set forth in Exhibit A as modified by the Director of Public Works in accordance with Section 9535.2.

(M)

“Structural improvements”

means major road surface improvements such as road reconstruction or overlays.

(N)

“Trench influence area”

shall mean a two-foot zone surrounding the cut area around the trench where the excavation occurs.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

Excavations in paved streets owned and maintained by the City, degrade and shorten the life of the surface of the streets, which degradation increases the frequency and cost to the public of necessary resurfacing, maintenance and repair. These excavations cause degradation of the streets even where the excavations are refilled and repaired in conformity with applicable standards and requirements. It is appropriate that entities responsible for excavating into the City's right-of-way bear the burden of the resulting cost of this degradation and shortened life of the surface rather than the taxpayers of the City. In addition, establishment of a trench cut cost recovery fee will create an incentive for utilities to coordinate excavations in the streets. This Article shall not be construed to relieve those excavating within the City right-of-way of the obligation to fill, repair and properly maintain the location of the excavation.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

No person shall excavate in a public right-of-way without, in addition to satisfying all other applicable requirements of this Code, having first paid to the City a “trench cut cost recovery fee.” The amount of this trench cut cost recovery fee shall be determined by reference to the tables attached as Exhibit A to this ordinance codified in this Article. The tables shall be modified each fiscal year by the City Engineer and be available to the public at the Department and on the City's website. The modification shall become effective on July 1 of each fiscal year after July 1, 2026. The City Engineer shall calculate the adjustment based on the California Construction Cost Index which is based on the Engineering News Record (ENR). The base line will be 1983, at that time the ENR was 4066. If the index ceases to exist, the City Engineer shall propose a replacement index to be adopted by City Council resolution.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

Any person subject to the trench cut cost recovery fee may request that the Director waive the requirement of payment of the trench cut cost recovery fee due to individual circumstances that demonstrate, on a case-by-case basis, that the amount of the fee is not reasonably related to the projected impact of the proposed excavation.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

(A) Excavations in City streets scheduled for pavement structural improvements within two years of the date of excavation shall be exempt from the trench cut cost recovery fee.

(B) No trench cut cost recovery fee shall be charged for underground utility district projects initiated by the City, or utility line relocations necessitated by City street work projects or by street vacations or abandonments.

(C) No trench cut cost recovery fee shall be charged with respect to excavation in a sidewalk or a concrete street.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

(A) Excavation in newly renovated public rights-of-way is prohibited for two years after filing of a notice of completion or acceptance of a new street or structural overlay of the existing street except as follows:

(1) Emergency which endangers life or property;

(2) Repair or modification to prevent interruption of essential utility services;

(3) Relocation work that is mandated by City direction;

(4) In a public right-of-way that the City has scheduled for overlay or reconstruction within two years after the date of excavation;

(5) At the discretion of the Director, trenchless excavations greater than three feet in depth of cover over the utility facility not requiring a significant surface incision greater than industry bore pit standards;

(6) Restoration work required pursuant to § 9535.6; or

(7) Other situations deemed by the Director to be in the best interest of the general public.

(B) Where a permit is issued to excavate during the two-year period after filing of a notice of completion or acceptance of a new street or structural overlay of an existing street, payment of the trench cut cost recovery fee will be required unless: (1) an emergency need to excavate arises from a natural disaster such as an earthquake; or (2) the excavation is necessary to accomplish relocation work that is mandated by City, State or Federal legislation.

(C) The prohibition on excavations to a newly renovated public right-of-way shall not apply if: the only renovation undertaken to the right-of-way is a seal coat.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

[1]

Ord. 1265 adds this section as 9535.4. It and the following sections have been editorially renumbered to avoid duplication of numbering.

(A) Prior to accepting an application for an excavation permit in the public rights-of-way, the City shall review and report to the applicant the City's anticipated repaving plans and information from utilities on file with the Director identifying planned repair, replacement or extension of facilities. The applicant shall coordinate, to the extent practicable, with the utility and street work shown on such plans to minimize damage to, and avoid undue disruption and interference with, the public rights-of-way. Whenever two or more parties, including the City, have proposed a major excavation in the same block, they shall meet and confer with the Director or his/her designee regarding whether it is feasible to conduct excavation jointly. If the parties select a single contractor to do the joint work, the Director may direct that only a single trench cut cost recovery fee shall be charged.

(B) To avoid future excavations and to reduce the number of street excavations, telecommunication companies may be requested, when practical, to install spare conduits.

(C) In order to encourage coordination of excavation and pavement scheduling and planning between the City and excavators, the City shall update at least annually its anticipated repaving plans. The anticipated repaving plans shall also identify the public rights-of-way which are then subject to the excavation prohibition provisions of § 9535.4, and the prohibition expiration date for each such right-of-way. A copy of any repaving plans on file with the Department shall be available for review by any interested person.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

(A) If the subsurface materials or pavement over or within the trench influence area become depressed or broken at any time, the person responsible shall, within 14 days of mailing of written notice from the Director, immediately inspect the depressed or broken area to ascertain the cause of the failure. The person shall make repairs to the installation or backfill and have the pavement restored in the manner and within the time period specified by the Director, but not to exceed 30 days. In the event the Director determines the pavement condition creates a road hazard, the Director may require the repair to be completed within 48 hours. A trench cut cost recovery fee shall not be charged for work performed under this section.

(B) If the pavement is not restored as specified by the Director, unless delayed by conditions beyond the person's control, the Director may cause the work to be done after giving the person 24 hours' final notice. The person shall thereafter, upon written demand by the Director, pay the City an amount calculated by multiplying the number of square feet of pavement restored by the square foot trench repair reimbursement fee set forth in the most current public works service and capital improvement fees schedule. The person shall remain responsible for any future repairs of that portion of pavement over the excavation that was repaired by the City.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

There is created and established the “trench cut cost recovery fee fund.” The fund is a restricted fund, and all funds deposited into the trench cut cost recovery fee fund shall be used solely for the purposes identified in § 9535.1.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

All funds received pursuant to the provisions of § 9535.2 shall be placed in the trench cut cost recovery fee fund.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

Funds maintained in the trench cut cost recovery fee fund shall only be expended for the maintenance, rehabilitation, resurfacing, administration and protection of the public rights-of-way that have been excavated after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this Article.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)

As part of the development and adoption of the City's annual budget the Director or his/her designee shall develop separate budget line items for anticipated trench cut cost recovery fees for each of the City owned or operated wastewater, water and electric utilities which own or use facilities under paved streets within the City maintained street system.

(Ord. 1265, § 2, adopted 2026)