15.48.010 Declaration of necessity.
   (A)   The City Council finds that the lack of sidewalks in the city forces school children and other pedestrians to walk in the streets and be subjected to the hazards of vehicular traffic. The lack of sidewalks, especially during rainy weather, constitutes an immediate hazard to the health and safety of pedestrians and vehicles.
   (B)   Existing city streets, alleys and highways ("streets") which have inadequate width, design and improvement constitute an immediate hazard to the health and safety of the users thereof, including drivers, users and passengers in ambulances, fire and police vehicles, sanitation trucks and equipment and to those occupants of the real property adjacent to the streets.
   (C)   The lack of curbs, gutters and improved streets in the city results in poor water drainage and causes the accumulation of filth and waste in such streets.
   (D)   Based on the foregoing, it is found that the lack of adequate curbs, gutters, sidewalks and properly widened and improved streets and alleys is immediately dangerous to the public health, safety and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, the general public and particularly to the occupants of property in the immediate vicinity thereof.
   (E)   It is further found by the City Council that the lack of adequate street lights and necessary facilities appurtenant thereto ("street lights"), in and along the public streets of the city in accordance with the city’s standards therefor and at appropriate locations in accordance with city’s general plan therefor, constitutes an immediate hazard to the public health, safety and general welfare of the city, its residents and the general public by reason of the following. The absence of such street lights and lighting emanating therefrom encourages the commission of those crimes commonly known as "street crimes," such as personal assault, attempted or actual rape, robbery, theft of or stripping of accessories from motor vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles and burglaries and attempted burglaries of buildings and structures located in those areas not having street lights nearby. Additionally, this lack of street lights diminishes the visibility necessary for safe nighttime operation of vehicles on the public streets and particularly the vision of drivers of emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, police and fire vehicles traveling under excessive time pressure and having a need to determine immediately the location and identification of buildings, streets, intersections, private property accessways and existence of any barriers in such streets.
   (F)   It is further found that immediate danger to the health, safety and welfare of the city, its residents and the general public is created by the lack of adequate fire hydrants, which by reason of their substandard conditions do not meet the city’s standards therefor or are not located as noted by the city’s general plan therefor. The lack or inadequacy of fire hydrants causes the city’s fire suppression personnel excessive delay or total inability to suppress certain fires by reason of absence of proper water pressure or the excessive distance for the proper utilization of hoses and other equipment to suppress a fire. The results of such delay or inability causes a hazard not only to the building or structure which is the immediate subject of attention, but also all persons, property and improvements in the immediate vicinity of such building.
   (G)   It is further found that the erection, construction, placement, installation, replacement, relocation, enlargement or addition of and to any structure or building, as described in § 15.48.020(A) or the occupancy thereof, creates a burden on the city in general and the immediate local neighborhood in which the building or structure is proposed, by reason of increasing traffic problems and imposing additional and more intensified obligations of service by the city, including, but not limited to, fire prevention and suppression, law enforcement, street improvement, maintenance and repair and engineering thereof in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of not only the general public, but the occupants of the buildings, their guests and permittees and the local neighborhood in which they are located.
   (H)   It is further found that the improvements required to be constructed or charges required to be paid in lieu thereof by the provisions of this chapter will constitute a direct benefit to those properties and the owners or occupants thereof and their guests and permittees by enabling the city to provide an efficient vehicular circulation and street system and safe operation thereof and proper law enforcement and fire protection and suppression services to and for such persons and their property.
(`78 Code, § 15.48.010.) (Ord. 2231 § 1, 1994; Ord, 1452 § 1, 1977.)