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The Council vacating any street or part of street or changing the name of any street may include in one ordinance the change of name or the vacation or narrowing of more than one street, avenue, or alley, but before vacating any street or part thereof, or narrowing any street, the Council shall first pass a resolution declaring its intention so to do. The Clerk of the Council shall cause notice of such declaration to be served in the manner that service of summons is required to be made upon all persons whose property abuts upon the part of the street affected by the proposed vacation or narrowing and by publication once in one newspaper of general circulation in the City as to all the persons who cannot be personally served. Said notice shall state the time and place when objections can be heard before the Board of Revision of Assessments. Upon the report by the Board of Revision of Assessments approving the proposed vacation or narrowing, the Council may by ordinance declare such vacation or narrowing, and such order of Council vacating or narrowing a street or alley which has been dedicated to public use by the proprietor, shall to the extent to which it is vacated or narrowed operate as a revocation of the acceptance thereof by Council, but the right of way and easement therein of any lot owner shall not be impaired thereby.
Property within the corporate limits of the City may be appropriated for any public or Municipal purpose, and subject to the limitations thereon imposed by the Constitution of the State, such appropriation shall be made in the manner herein provided. By such appropriation the City may acquire a fee simple title or any less estate, easement or use. Appropriation of property located outside the corporate limits of the City shall be made according to the requirements of, and in the manner provided by the general law.
When it is deemed necessary to appropriate property the Council shall adopt a resolution declaring such intent, defining the purpose of the appropriation, setting forth a pertinent description of the property, and the estate or interest therein desired to be appropriated.
Immediately upon the adoption of such a resolution, for which but one reading shall be necessary, the Clerk of the Council shall cause written notice thereof to be given to the owner, person in possession thereof, or having an interest of record in, every piece of land sought to be appropriated, or to his authorized agent, and such notice shall be served by a person designated for the purpose, and return made in the manner provided by law for the service and return of summons in civil actions. If such owner, person, or agent, cannot be found, notice shall be given by publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the City, and the Council may thereafter pass an ordinance directing such appropriation to proceed.
Upon the passage of such ordinance the Director of Law shall make application to a court of competent jurisdiction or to a judge thereof in vacation, which application shall describe as correctly as possible the land or other property to be appropriated, the interest or estate therein to be taken, the object for which the land is desired, and the name of the owner or each lot or parcel thereof, and all the subsequent proceedings with regard thereto shall be in the manner provided by general law for the appropriation of property by municipal corporations in this State.
FRANCHISES
The Council may, by ordinance, grant permission to any individual, company or corporation to construct and operate a public utility in the streets and public grounds of the City but not for a period exceeding twenty years. It may prescribe in the ordinance the kind and quality of service or the product to be furnished, the rate or rates to be charged therefor, and any terms and conditions conducive to the public interest; and also the manner in which the streets and public grounds shall be used and occupied. And no franchise shall be considered an emergency measure and shall be subject to referendum as hereinbefore provided.
The Council may, by ordinance, renew any grant for the construction or operation of any utility, at its expiration, upon such terms as may be conducive to the public interest. All such grants and renewals thereof shall reserve to the City the right to purchase all the property of the utility in the streets and highways and elsewhere used in, or useful for, the operation of the utility, at a price either fixed in the ordinance, or to be fixed in the manner provided by the ordinance making the grant or the renewal of the grant. Nothing in such ordinance shall prevent the City from acquiring the property of any such utility by condemnation proceedings or in any other lawful mode; but all such methods of acquisition shall be alternative to the power of purchase, reserved in the grant or renewal as hereinbefore provided.
No ordinance making such grant or renewal shall be valid unless it shall expressly provide therein that the price to be paid by the City for the property that may be required by it from such utility, by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, shall exclude all value of such grant or renewal.
Upon the acquisition by the City of the property of any utility by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, all grants or renewals shall at once terminate.
The Council may, by ordinance, grant to any individual, company or corporation operating a public utility, the right to extend the appliances and service of such utility. All such extensions shall become a part of the aggregate property of the utility and shall be subject to all the obligations and reserved rights in favor of the City applicable to the property of the utility by virtue of the ordinance providing for its construction and operation. The right to use and maintain any such extension shall expire with the original grant of the utility to which the extension was made or any renewal thereof.
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