(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall install or maintain any telephone booth, mounted telephone, or other form of pay telephone not enclosed within the interior of a building unless it is located on the public way and in accordance with Section 10-28-265 of this Code. Any outdoor pay telephone located on property other than the public way in violation of this section shall be removed by its owner, any person with control over the payphone, or the owner of real estate on which the payphone is located, within 30 days after the effective date of this section.
(b) Any person who violates any provision of subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to a fine of not less than $50.00 and not more than $200.00 for each offense. If an outdoor pay telephone is installed in violation of this section at substantially the same location where a telephone was previously removed pursuant to this section, any person participating in the violation shall be fined not less than $200.00 and not more than $500.00. Each day that a violation of subsection (a) continues shall constitute a separate offense. However, for the period ending six months after the effective date of this amendatory ordinance, no fine shall be imposed with respect to a telephone unless a removal notice has been posted on the telephone pursuant to this section.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection may issue a revocable certificate of registration jointly authorizing the owner of real property on which a telephone is to be located and a telecommunications company that will operate the telephone, subject to the conditions of this section, the installation or maintenance of a telephone booth, mounted telephone, or other form of pay telephone not enclosed within the interior of a building and not on the public way, but permitted by this subsection (c). The certification of registration shall create no legal rights or entitlements, and shall not be deemed to create any type of vested interest. The application for the certificate of registration shall designate a registered agent for receiving notices under this section. Applications shall be maintained by the city as confidential business records. The certification shall be issued no later than 30 days after a complete application for an eligible location is received. No certificate of registration shall authorize installation of a telephone at a location that the commissioner determines will not be in the public interest or may have a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood. The commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection may issue a certificate of registration pursuant to this section for no more than two telephones on any zoning lot of property; provided that the number of telephones authorized under this section for any parking lot with 200 or more parking spaces, or for any property on which there are facilities designed for public assembly and having a capacity for more than 10,000 persons, shall not exceed a number determined by the commissioner by rule as necessary for public convenience. No certificate of registration shall authorize a telephone situated: (i) on vacant property; (ii) on property on which there is situated an abandoned building; (iii) on property on which there is situated an establishment that has or requires a tavern license, or that is kept, used, maintained, advertised and held out to the public as a place that primarily sells alcoholic liquor at retail; or (iv) on property on which there is a building that is used primarily for residential purposes. Certificates of registration shall be issued for particular locations identified in the application therefor. The commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection by rule may establish and impose an application fee or an annual registration fee, or both, for certificates of registration issued under this section. The total amount of the fees may not exceed an amount sufficient for the city to recover its costs in administering this section, exclusive of costs directly related to preliminary or final hearings. A copy of each application for a certificate of registration shall be sent to the alderman for the ward in which the proposed telephone is to be located not less than five days after the application is received.
(d) Whenever the commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection determines that it is not in the public interest for the telephone to remain on private property, or that the telephone may have a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood, the commissioner shall initiate procedures to revoke the certificate of registration for that telephone. A certification by the alderman of the ward in which the telephone is or is to be located setting forth facts establishing that it is not in the public interest for the telephone to remain on private property, or that the telephone has a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood, shall be prima facie evidence that the certificate of registration is subject to revocation or should not be issued under this section. Whenever the commissioner makes such a determination with respect to a telephone for which a certificate of registration has been issued, the commissioner shall attempt to notify the registrant of the determination by mailing a notice to the registered agent or the registrant, and a representative of the City of Chicago may enter upon any private property and may place upon the telephone a notice stating that the certificate of registration is subject to revocation and that the registrant has a right to request a preliminary hearing at which the registrant will be given an opportunity to be heard in opposition to the revocation within seven days of the notice. The preliminary hearing shall be informal and shall provide the registrant with an opportunity to address the reasons for the commissioner's preliminary determination. If no preliminary hearing is requested or if the commissioner determines that there is probable cause for revocation of the certificate of registration after the preliminary hearing, the commissioner shall issue an order requiring the telephone and its appurtenances to be removed within seven days after the order is issued pending a final determination. Telephones that are not timely removed may be removed by a representative of the City of Chicago. No certificate of registration may be issued for a telephone at a zoning lot with respect to which a previous certificate has been revoked for a period of one year after revocation.
(e) Outdoor pay telephones not lawfully installed or maintained pursuant to this Code are hereby declared to be public nuisances subject to summary abatement upon due notice. A representative of the City of Chicago may enter upon any private property within the City of Chicago that he or she has reason to believe contains an outdoor pay telephone in violation of this section, and may place upon the telephone a notice that the telephone must be removed within seven days. Such notice shall also provide that if the telephone is not removed within seven days, a representative of the City of Chicago may remove the telephone and charge the costs of removal jointly and severally to its owner, operator, and the person who owns or controls the real property on which the pay telephone is located. If such telephone has not been removed within seven days, a representative of the City of Chicago may remove the telephone.
(f) If the costs to the City of Chicago of removing telephones and their appurtenances pursuant to this section are not paid within 30 days, the telephone shall be deemed abandoned and may be sold or destroyed. The costs of removing outdoor pay telephones shall be a debt to the City of Chicago jointly and severally owed by the telephone's owner and operator, and any person who owns or controls the real property on which the telephone was located.
(Added Coun. J. 10-5-94, p. 57792; Amend Coun. J. 7-10-96, p. 24982; Amend Coun. J. 11-12-97, p. 56814; Amend Coun. J. 4-29-98, p. 66564; Amend Coun. J. 7-27-05, p. 53211, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 11-19-08, p. 47220, Art. V, § 5; Amend Coun. J. 11-16-11, p. 13798, Art. I, § 6)