Chapter 4.17 Civic Center Area Underground Utility District
4.17.10 Purpose of this Chapter
The purpose of this Chapter is to serve the public health, safety and welfare by requiring the conversion of overhead utilities to underground locations and to specifically achieve the following objectives:
A. Reduction of potential hazards to life and property in the event of emergencies or disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods, hazardous or toxic waste releases, or heavy rains;
B. Facilitation of the delivery of emergency services from the civic center area to persons and property located throughout the City;
C. Improvement of the utility of Hacienda Boulevard for such public uses as pedestrian travel, ease of deliveries to adjacent property, and emergency evacuation;
D. Reduction of visual distractions and impairments for drivers in the civic center area, thereby promoting the safety of pedestrians and vehicle operators; and
E. Improvement of the aesthetics of the City’s civic center. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.20 Definitions
As used in this Chapter, the following words and phrases (and any variants thereof) mean:
A. "District" means the Civic Center Area Underground Utility District established by Section 4.17.30.
B. "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 the District and used or useful in supplying electric, communication, or similar or associated service.
C. "Public utility" includes all persons or entities supplying electric, communication, or similar or associated service by means of electrical materials or devices. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.30 Establishment of District and Boundaries
The Civic Center Area Underground Utility District is hereby established. The District includes:
A. The first eight hundred fifty (850) feet of Hacienda Road, forty-five (45) feet on either side of the centerline extending south from the centerpoint of that street’s intersection with West Road.
B. The first two hundred fifty (250) feet of Hacienda Road, forty-five (45) feet on either side of the centerline extending north from the centerpoint of that street’s intersection with West Road.
C. The first one hundred twenty-five (125) feet of West Road, forty-five (45) feet on either side of the centerline extending west from the centerpoint of that street’s intersection with Hacienda Road.
D. Each parcel of real property abutting any section of West Road or Hacienda Road that is set forth in subsections A through C of this Section.
And each parcel of real property abutting that section of Hacienda Road and West Road. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.40 Overhead Utilities Prohibited
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. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.50 Responsibility of Utilities
If underground construction is necessary to provide utility service within the District, 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 Public Utilities Commission. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.60 Responsibility of Property Owners
A. Every person owning, operating, leasing, occupying, or renting a building or structure within the District shall construct and provide that portion of the service connection on their property, and to the termination facility on or within such building or structure being served, subject to the applicable rules, regulations, and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the Public Utilities Commission.
B. In the event that 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 this Chapter, the City Manager shall post written notice on the property being served and thirty (30) days thereafter may authorize the disconnection and removal of any and all overhead service wires and associated facilities supplying utility service to such property. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.70 Responsibility of City
The City will remove, at its expense, all City-owned equipment from all poles required to be removed hereunder in sufficient time to enable the owner or user of such poles to remove such poles within the time specified by City Council resolution. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.80 Exceptions
The following facilities are exempt from the requirements of Section 4.17.40:
A. Poles, or electroliers, used exclusively for street lighting;
B. 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;
C. Poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures used for the transmission of electric energy at nominal voltages in excess of thirty-four thousand and five hundred (34,500) volts;
D. 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;
E. Equipment appurtenant to underground facilities, such as surface-mounted transformers, pedestal-mounted terminal boxes and meter cabinets and concealed ducts; and
F. Temporary poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures used or to be used in conjunction with construction projects. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)
4.17.90 Implementation Timeline and Suspension of Requirements
A. It is the intent of the City Council that the provisions of this Chapter be implemented in a manner that best coordinates with other construction projects at the City’s civic center site.
B. The requirements of Sections 4.17.40 through 4.17.70 shall be suspended until such suspension is lifted pursuant to Section 4.17.90(C).
C. The City Manager shall determine the date or dates upon which the suspension of each requirement of Sections 4.17.40 through 4.17.70 shall be lifted. He or she shall give notice of such dates by posting the determination in the manner in which the City gives notice of ordinances adopted by the City Council and shall mail notice of such determination to each property affected by this Chapter and to each utility affected by this Chapter. Such notice shall be given no later than thirty (30) days prior to the first date set forth in the determination. (Ord. 2007-03 § 2)