(a) The City Administrator is hereby empowered to grant licenses permitting private occupation of air-space over any lands within or beneath streets, alleys and other municipal rights-of-way for purposes which are not inconsistent with the public use of such lands.
(b) All licenses granted pursuant to the authority of this section shall be revocable at will and without cause by the Municipality.
(c) All licenses granted pursuant to the authority of this section shall be executed upon instruments approved by the Law Director and shall provide that:
(1) All improvements to be installed within, over or under a public right-of-way be constructed in accordance with plans and specifications approved by the City Engineer and inspected by appropriate municipal officials whenever such inspection is provided for by ordinance, general law, building or fire standards or is deemed necessary to assure compliance with the plans and specifications approved by the City Engineer;
(2) The installation of licensed improvements shall be performed at the licensee's sole expense and that the licensee shall reimburse the Municipality for any and all costs and expenses incurred as the result of making changes in the public right-of-way to accommodate such improvements or to restore the premises to the same or as good a condition as they were in prior to the installation of the private improvements;
(3) All licensed improvements installed within the right-of-way shall be maintained and operated at the licensee's sole risk and expense and that the Municipality shall not be accountable to the licensee for any damage to such improvements which may be incurred incident to installation, operation, maintenance, repair, relocation or renewal of public improvements within or adjacent to the right-of-way;
(4) All work incident to the construction, maintenance, replacement, repair, renewal, or removal of licensed improvements shall be performed at times satisfactory to and approved by the City Administrator so as to interfere as little as possible with the public use of the right-of-way;
(5) The licensee shall indemnify and hold the Municipality harmless against any and all claims, demands, suits or actions to which the City may be subjected, in whole or in part, by reason of the construction, installation, maintenance, replacement, repair, renewal, presence or use of the licensed improvements within the public right-of-way or by reason of the removal of such improvements from the right-of-way, including attorney's fees and other expenses of litigation reasonably incurred by the City in the defense thereof;
(6) The licensee shall maintain one or more policies of Commercial General Liability, Homeowners, Premises Liability or other insurance written upon forms acceptable to the Law Director and underwritten by companies acceptable to the Finance Director naming the Municipality as an additional insured thereunder and providing for insurance coverage in amounts sufficient to assure that the licensee maintains a capacity to pay not less than three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) in the event of an occurrence giving rise to a duty on the part of the Licensee to indemnify the Municipality;
(7) All privileges conferred by the license are personal to the licensee in whose name the license is issued and not transferable by such licensee without written consent of the Municipality;
(8) All privileges conferred by the license are for an indeterminate period of time, revocable with or without cause by the Municipality and that revocation for cause may be predicated upon a finding by the City Administrator that the presence, use, operation or maintenance of any private improvement installed within the right-of-way is no longer consistent with public or any proposed public use thereof;
(9) The licensee shall remove all improvements permitted by the license within ten days following revocation of the license for cause and within thirty days following revocation of the license without cause.
(d) In the event any license issued pursuant to the authority of this section is revoked and the licensee to whom such license has been granted fails to remove the improvements from the public right-of-way within the time permitted by the terms of the license, the Municipality shall be entitled to remove the same without liability to the licensee for any damage occasioned thereby and recover all costs reasonably incurred incident to such removal and the restoration of the right-of-way to the same or as good a condition as it was in prior to removal of the improvements.
(Ord. 5667. Passed 7-11-95.)
(e) Applications for licenses to occupy public rights-of-way shall be filed on forms prescribed by the City Administrator. A processing fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) shall accompany each application and be deposited to the General Fund to defray administrative expenses customarily incurred to receive, review and act on the application. No rent or other charge shall be levied or assessed as consideration for the use or occupation of a public right-of- way pursuant to a license authorized by this section.
(f) All licenses granted pursuant to the authority of this section shall be promptly recorded in miscellaneous or other appropriate records of the Recorder of Defiance County by the City Administrator. In addition to the fee provided by subsection (e) hereof, the licensee shall pay all costs and expenses charged by the Recorder incident to the filing of the license for record.
(Ord. 7106. Passed 12-15-09.)
(g) Nothing contained herein shall be construed to limit or restrict the rights of any person to seek allowance of a license or the conveyance of a greater interest in lands owned or controlled by the Municipality by legislative action.
(Ord. 5667. Passed 7-11-95.)