1. A registrant, franchisee, or licensee who has determined to discontinue its operations in the City, in whole or in part, or who has discontinued use of part or all of its equipment in the right-of-way, must either:
A. Provide information satisfactory to the Building Inspector that its obligations for its equipment in the right-of-way under this chapter have been lawfully assumed by another registrant, franchisee, or licensee; or
B. Submit to the Building Inspector a proposal and instruments for transferring ownership of its equipment to the City. If a registrant, franchisee, or licensee proceeds under this subsection, the City may, at its option:
(1) Assume ownership of and responsibility for the equipment; or
(2) Refuse transfer of ownership to the City and require the registrant to maintain the ability to locate the equipment in a timely manner or require the registrant to provide GPS coordinates for the end points of the abandoned lines using the local coordinate system as established by the City Engineer.
2. A registrant, franchisee, or licensee who fails to comply with subsection 1 of this section and whose equipment remains unused for a period of two years shall be deemed to have abandoned such equipment. Equipment of a registrant, franchisee, or licensee which fails to comply with subsection 1 of this section and which remains unused for two years shall be deemed to be abandoned. Abandoned equipment is deemed to be a nuisance. The City may, with respect to abandoned equipment which is deemed a nuisance, exercise any remedies or rights it has at law or in equity, including but not limited to:
A. Bringing an action for nuisance abatement in which the City may seek the abatement of the nuisance and/or authority to take possession of the equipment; or
B. Requiring removal of the equipment by the registrant, franchisee, or licensee.
Any registrant, franchisee, or licensee who has unused equipment in any right-of-way shall remove it from the right-of-way during the next scheduled excavation, unless this requirement is waived by the Building Inspector.
3. A registrant, franchisee, or licensee who abandons or ceases use of its equipment as provided in this section and whose proposal to transfer such equipment to the City is accepted by the City shall, nonetheless, be allowed to remove wires or cables from underground conduits and to remove movable equipment from underground vaults or handholes if the Building Inspector determines that such removal can be accomplished without damaging such conduits or vaults, and provided such removal can be accomplished without extensive excavation or long-term obstruction of the right-of-way. Such removal shall be accomplished pursuant to appropriate right-of-way permits, which may include conditions regarding the manner of removal and schedule for removal.