The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
1. “Applicant” means any person requesting permission to excavate or obstruct a right-of-way.
2. “Building Inspector” means the City Building Inspector.
3. “City cost” or “City cost component” means the direct and indirect costs borne by the City for administration of public rights-of-way, including (but not limited to) cost recovery, recovery of revenue lost due to street occupancy, infrastructure oversight, budget analysis, recordkeeping, legal assistance, systems analysis, application processing and checking, issuing permits, inspecting job sites, creating and updating mapping systems, and other costs the City may incur in managing and in performing all of the tasks required by this chapter.
4. “Communications system” means any telephone or telegraph system or any other system of cables, wires, fibers, or conduits and any related equipment, facilities, manholes or overhead poles operated and maintained for communications purposes, or operated for the purpose of transmitting data.
5. “Customer” means any person who purchases any utility services provided by a utility or any other person occupying or using the right-of-way.
6. “Department” means the City Inspection Department.
7. “Department Inspector” means any person authorized by the City Building Inspector to carry out inspections related to this chapter.
8. “Disruptive cost” or “disruptive cost component” means the cost the City will incur in managing the vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic which will be disrupted by excavation and/or obstruction activities in the right-of-way, and may also include compensation to the City for loss of revenues, including (but not limited to) the loss of parking revenues due to loss of access to parking spaces or facilities.
9. “Emergency” means a condition that poses a clear and immediate danger to life or health or of a significant loss of property or which prevents the performance of or threatens to cause a delay in the performance of vital City operations or activities.
10. “Equipment” means any tangible thing located in any right-of-way, including underground and in-ground irrigation facilities and site plan approved tree wells, but excluding street trees required pursuant to City subdivision regulations and other ornamental plantings.
11. “Excavate” means to dig into or in any way remove or physically disturb or penetrate any part of a right-of-way.
12. “Excavation permit” means the permit which must be obtained before a person may excavate a right-of-way.
13. “Excavation permit fee” means money paid to the City by an applicant for an excavation permit to cover the costs as provided in Section 141.25 of this chapter.
14. “Franchisee” means any person who has been granted a franchise by the City for the use or occupancy of the right-of-way or who is granted a franchise for the use or occupancy of the right-of-way.
15. “High-intensity corridor” means a corridor where the Building Inspector has determined that no new utilities can be installed in the right-of-way until such time as a public common corridor can be developed.
16. “In,” when used in conjunction with a right-of-way, means over, above, in, within, on, or under a right-of-way.
17. “Lessee” means any person to whom the City has granted a lease to use or occupy the right-of-way or to whom the City grants a lease to use or occupy the right-of-way.
18. “Licensee” means any person to whom the City has issued a license to use or occupy a right-of-way or to whom the City issues a license to use or occupy a right-of-way.
19. “Local exchange area” means an area, as established under regulations of the State, in which intra-area communications service is provided by an incumbent local exchange carrier and/or a competitive local exchange service provider or carrier, as such entities are defined and regulated pursuant to State or Federal law and regulation.
20. “Local representative” means the person or designee of such person authorized by a registrant to accept service and to make decisions for that registrant regarding all matters within the scope of this chapter.
21. “Obstruct” means to impede the free and unrestricted use of the right-of-way by others or to place any tangible object upon the surface of a right-of-way so as to hinder free and open passage over that or any part of the right-of-way, or so as to effectively impede the free and unrestricted use of the right-of-way by others.
22. “Obstruction permit” means the permit which must be obtained before a person may obstruct a right-of-way.
23. “Obstruction permit fee” means money paid to the City by an applicant for an obstruction permit to cover the costs as provided in Section 141.25 of this chapter.
24. “Outlay and expense” or “all outlay and expense” means the full and actual costs and expenses incurred by the City, including interest, benefits, and overhead where applicable, and including (but not limited to) all contract or employee expense, all equipment usage or rental, materials, testing, outside experts, attorneys’ fees (including overhead expenses of the City’s staff attorneys), and all costs and expenses of litigation as they are incurred by the City.
25. “Permit” or “right-of-way permit” means a permit to excavate or obstruct a right-of-way issued by the City pursuant to this chapter or a permit to excavate a right-of-way issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, as those provisions existed prior to April 24, 2009.
26. “Permittee” means any person to whom a permit to excavate or obstruct a right-of-way has been issued by the City pursuant to this chapter or any person to whom a permit to excavate a right-of-way has been issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, as those provisions existed prior to April 24, 2009.
27. “Person” means any natural or corporate person, business association, or other business entity, including (but not limited to) a partnership, a sole proprietorship, a political subdivision, a public or private agency of any kind, a utility, a successor or assign of any of the foregoing, or any other legal entity.
28. “Probation” means the status of a person that has not complied with the conditions of this chapter.
29. “Probationary period” means the one-year period which commences on the date that a person has been notified in writing that he or she has been put on probation.
30. “Registrant” means any person who has registered as required under this chapter due to the fact that the person:
A. Has or seeks to have its equipment located in any right-of-way; or
B. In any way occupies or uses or seeks to occupy or use the right-of-way or any equipment located in the right-of-way.
For purposes of the regulatory provisions of this chapter, as set forth in Section 141.05, “registrant” includes any person who uses or occupies the right-of-way, regardless of whether the City has implemented the registration provisions of this chapter, and regardless of whether such person has registered with the City as required by this chapter.
31. “Restoration” means the process by which an excavated or obstructed right-of-way is returned to its proper and required condition pursuant to the City’s utility accommodation and street restoration specifications.
32. “Restoration fee” means an amount of money paid to the City by a permittee to cover the cost of restoration as provided and required in Section 141.30 of this chapter.
33. “Right-of-way” means the surface of and space above and below any public street, boulevard, road, highway, freeway, lane, alley, court, sidewalk, parkway, tunnel, viaduct, or bridge which has been officially dedicated for public travel and which has traditionally been used for the provision of utility services to the public, in which the City has an interest in law or in equity, whether held in fee or other estate or interest, or as a trustee for the public; provided, however, skywalks, sidewalks within public cemeteries, and sidewalks and trails within public parks and on river levees shall not be considered right-of-way available for private or commercial use under this chapter.
34. “Right-of-way permit fee” means either the excavation permit fee or the obstruction permit fee or both, depending on the content, required by this chapter.
35. “Right-of-way user” means any person who has equipment located in any right-of-way, or who occupies or uses the right-of-way or any equipment in the right-of-way, and includes registrants, franchisees, licensees, lessees, and unregistered users as herein defined.
36. “Service” or “utility service” means and includes:
A. The services provided by a corporation organized for the purposes set forth in Code of Iowa § 476.1 et seq., or provided by a public utility as therein defined; and
B. Those services for which cities have been granted franchising authority pursuant to Code of Iowa § 364.2, including electric light and power, heating, telegraph, cable television, district telegraph and alarm, motorbus, trolley bus, street railway or other public transit, waterworks, sanitary sewer, or gasworks services provided to customers within the City.
37. “Supplementary application” means an application made to excavate or obstruct more of the right-of-way than allowed in (or to extend the duration of) a permit that has already been issued.
38. “System management costs” mean those costs which the City incurs in planning, designing, constructing, and maintaining a high-intensity corridor.
39. “System” or “utility system” means all equipment which a person has that is located in public right-of-way and that is used to provide a service either to the person or to others as part of the person’s business.
40. “Transfer” means the sale, assignment, or conveyance, in whole or in part, of a registrant’s, franchisee’s, or licensee’s equipment in the right-of-way to another person; the sale, assignment, or conveyance, in whole or in part, of a registrant’s, franchisee’s, or licensee’s business, whether pursuant to sale, merger, or reorganization, to another person; or the sale, assignment, or conveyance, in whole or in part, of a franchisee’s franchise or a licensee’s license to another person.
41. “Transferee” means the person to whom a registrant’s, franchisee’s, or licensee’s equipment in the right-of-way is sold, assigned, or conveyed, in whole or in part; to whom a registrant’s, franchisee’s, or licensee’s business is sold, assigned, or conveyed, in whole or in part; or to whom a franchisee’s franchise or a licensee’s license is sold, assigned, or conveyed, in whole or in part.
42. “Unregistered right-of-way user” or “unregistered user” means any person who has equipment located in any right-of-way, or who occupies or uses the right-of-way or any equipment in the right-of-way, but who is not registered as required by Section 141.05 of this chapter.
43. “Unused equipment” means equipment located in the right-of-way, which has remained unused for six months or more and for which the registrant is unable to provide proof that it has either a plan to begin using that equipment within the next 12 months or a potential purchaser or user of that equipment for the same purpose. Unused equipment shall not be deemed to include equipment which is installed as backup equipment to be used in the event of damage to or outage of equipment which is being used or which is installed to provide capacity to meet future service needs.
44. “Utility accommodation and street restoration specifications” means the utility accommodation and street restoration specifications approved by the City Council.