Chapter 11.04
UNDERGROUND UTILITY DISTRICT
Sections:
11.04.020 Public hearing – Procedure.
11.04.030 Public hearing – Report by city engineer.
11.04.040 Designation of underground utility district – Resolution by council.
11.04.060 Utility company responsibility.
11.04.070 Property owner responsibility – Construction of certain facilities.
11.04.080 Property owner responsibility – Noncompliance – Notice – Generally.
11.04.090 Property owner responsibility – Noncompliance – Notice – Delivery.
11.04.100 Property owner responsibility – Noncompliance – Notice – Contents.
11.04.110 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Assessment of cost.
11.04.120 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Hearing – Notice.
11.04.130 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Hearing – Procedure.
11.04.140 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Costs to become lien.
11.04.150 Responsibility of city.
11.04.170 Exceptions – Emergency or unusual circumstances.
11.04.180 Exceptions – Other than emergency or unusual circumstances.
11.04.190 Unlawful acts designated – Exceptions.
11.04.200 Violation – Penalty.
11.04.010 Definitions.
Whenever in this chapter the words or phrases defined in this section 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” means 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 services.
D. “Underground utility district” or “district” means that area in the city 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 BGMC 11.04.040.
E. “Utility” includes all persons or entities supplying electric, communication, or similar or associated services by means of electrical materials or devices. (Prior code § 7300).
11.04.020 Public hearing – Procedure.
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 services. 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 at least 10 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. (Prior code § 7301).
11.04.030 Public hearing – Report by city engineer.
Prior to holding the public hearing, the city engineer shall consult with all affected utilities. He shall prepare a report for submission at the hearing containing, among other information, the extent of the utilities’ participation, and estimates of the total costs to the city and affected property owners. The report shall also contain an estimate of the time required to complete underground installation and removal of overhead facilities. (Prior code § 7301.1).
11.04.040 Designation of underground utility district – Resolution by council.
If, after the public hearing provided for in BGMC 11.04.020, the council finds that the public necessity, health, safety, or welfare requires the removal and underground installation of utility facilities within a designated area, the council, by resolution, shall declare such designated area an underground utility district, and order such removal and underground installation. The resolution shall include a description of the area comprising the 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, with 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. (Prior code § 7302).
11.04.050 Designation of underground utility district – Notice to property owners and utility companies.
Within 10 days after the effective date of a resolution adopted pursuant to BGMC 11.04.040, the city clerk shall notify all affected utilities and all persons owning real property within the district created by the resolution of its adoption. The city clerk shall further notify the 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 services, they or the 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.
Notification by the city clerk shall be made by mailing a copy of the resolution adopted pursuant to BGMC 11.04.040, together with a copy of the ordinance codified in this section, to affected property owners, as they are shown on the last equalized assessment roll, and to the affected utilities. (Prior code § 7306).
11.04.060 Utility company responsibility.
If underground construction is necessary to provide utility service within a district created by any resolution adopted pursuant to BGMC 11.04.040, the supplying utility shall furnish that portion of the conduits, conductors, and associated equipment required to be furnished by it under the applicable rules, regulations, and tariffs on file with the commission. (Prior code § 7307).
11.04.070 Property owner responsibility – Construction of certain facilities.
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 BGMC 11.04.050 and the termination facility on or within the building or structure being served. (Prior code § 7308(a)).
11.04.080 Property owner responsibility – Noncompliance – Notice – Generally.
If the service connection required by BGMC 11.08.070 is not accomplished by any person within the time provided for in the resolution enacted pursuant to BGMC 11.04.040, the city engineer shall give notice in writing to the person in possession of the premises, and a notice in writing to the owner thereof, as shown on the last equalized assessment roll, to provide the required underground facilities within 10 days after receipt of the notice. (Prior code § 7308(a)).
11.04.090 Property owner responsibility – Noncompliance – Notice – Delivery.
The notice to provide the required underground facilities may be given either by personal service or by mail. In case of service by mail on either the person in possession or the owner, the notice must be deposited in the United States Mail in a sealed envelope with postage prepaid. It must be addressed to the person in possession of the premises at such premises, or addressed to the owner, as such owner’s name appears, to the owner’s last known address, as the address appears on the last equalized assessment roll, or when no address appears, to the general delivery in the city of Bell Gardens. If notice is given by mail, it shall be deemed to have been received by the person to whom it has been sent within 48 hours after the mailing thereof. If notice is given by mail to either the owner or occupant of such premises, the city engineer shall, within 48 hours after the mailing of the notice, cause a copy thereof, printed on a card not less than eight inches by 10 inches in size, to be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises. (Prior code § 7308(b)).
11.04.100 Property owner responsibility – Noncompliance – Notice – Contents.
The notice given by the city engineer to provide the required underground facilities shall particularly specify what work is required to be done, and shall state that, if the work is not completed within 30 days after receipt of the notice, the city engineer will provide the 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. (Prior code § 7308(c)).
11.04.110 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Assessment of cost.
If, upon the expiration of the 30-day period, the required underground facilities have not been provided, the city engineer shall forthwith proceed to do the work; provided, however, that if such premises are unoccupied and no electric or communications services are being furnished thereto, the city engineer, in lieu of providing the required underground facilities, shall have the authority to order the disconnection and removal of any and all overhead service wires and associated facilities supplying utility service to the property. Upon completion of the work by the city engineer, he shall file a written report with the city 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 the work upon the premises, which said time shall not be less than 10 days thereafter. (Prior code § 7308(d)).
11.04.120 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Hearing – Notice.
The city engineer, forthwith upon the time for hearing protests having been fixed as provided in BGMC 11.04.110, shall give a notice in writing to the person in possession of the premises, and a notice in writing to the owner, in the manner provided in BGMC 11.04.050 for the giving of the notice to provide the required underground facilities, of the time and place that the council will pass upon such report and will hear protests against the proposed assessment. The notice shall also set forth the amount of the proposed assessment. (Prior code § 7308(e)).
11.04.130 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Hearing – Procedure.
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. (Prior code § 7308(f)).
11.04.140 Property owner responsibility – Performance by city – Costs to become lien.
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. The city engineer is directed to turn over to the assessor and tax collector a notice of lien on each of the properties on which the assessment has not been paid. The assessor and tax collector shall add the amount of the assessment to the next regular bill for taxes levied against the premises upon which said 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 year. (Prior code § 7308(g)).
11.04.150 Responsibility of city.
The city shall remove, at its own expense, all city-owned equipment from all poles required to be removed by this chapter in ample time to enable the owner or user of such poles to remove them within the time specified in the resolution enacted pursuant to BGMC 11.04.040. (Prior code § 7309).
11.04.160 Extension of time.
In the event that any act required by this chapter or by a resolution adopted pursuant to BGMC 11.04.040 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. (Prior code § 7310).
11.04.170 Exceptions – Emergency or unusual circumstances.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, overhead facilities may be installed and maintained for a period not to exceed 30 days without the authority of the city manager in order to provide emergency service. In cases of unusual circumstances, the city may grant special permission, on such terms as the city may deem appropriate, without discrimination, to any person or utility to erect, construct, install, maintain, use, or operate poles, overhead wires, and associated overhead structures. (Prior code § 7304).
11.04.180 Exceptions – Other than emergency or unusual circumstances.
In any resolution adopted pursuant to BGMC 11.04.040, 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, or connecting to buildings on the perimeter of a district within which overhead wires have been prohibited, 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 34,500 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. Antennas, 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. (Prior code § 7305).
11.04.190 Unlawful acts designated – Exceptions.
Whenever the council creates an underground utility district and orders the removal of poles, overhead wires, and associated overhead structures therein, as provided in BGMC 11.04.040, 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 overhead facilities are required by resolution to be removed, except as such overhead facilities may be required to furnish service to an owner or occupant or property prior to the performance by such owner or occupant of the underground work necessary for him to continue to receive utility service as provided in BGMC 11.04.040, and for such reasonable time as is required to remove the overhead facilities after the work has been performed, and except as otherwise provided in this chapter. (Prior code § 7303).
11.04.200 Violation – Penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision, or to fail to comply with any of the requirements, of this chapter. Any person violating any provision of this chapter or failing to comply with any of its requirements shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500.00, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each day during any portion of which any violation of any of the provisions of this chapter is committed, continued, or permitted by such person, and shall be punishable therefor as provided for in this chapter. (Prior code § 7311).