(a) The purpose and intent of this Chapter is to:
(1) Manage reasonable access to the City's Right-of-Way by utility and other Service Providers and ensure their compliance with the ordinances, rules and regulations of the City.
(2) Conserve the limited physical capacity of the Right-of-Way held in trust by the City for the benefit of the public.
(3) Assure that the City fairly and responsibly protects the public health, safety and welfare.
(4) Enable the City to discharge its public trust consistent with rapidly evolving federal and State regulatory policies, industry competition and technological development.
(b) For the purpose of this Chapter, and the interpretation and enforcement thereof, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings, unless the context of the sentence in which they are used shall indicate otherwise:
(1) “Affiliate” means a Person that (directly or indirectly) owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with another Person.
(2) “Capital Improvement” means an addition made to enhance the value or extend the useful life of an existing System or Facilities, including Construction, Reconstruction, installation, rehabilitation, renovation, improvement, enlargement and extension of Facilities, but not including ordinary or Routine Maintenance.
(3) “City” means the City of Galion.
(4) “City Engineer” means the engineer of the City who is duly-appointed or otherwise designated by the Mayor.
(5) “Construct, Constructing, Construction, etc.” means installing, repairing, replacing or removing any Facility, regardless of the methods employed, including Excavation.
(6) “Construction Permit or Permit” means a permit issued pursuant to Section 913.08 of this Chapter.
(7) “Emergency” means an unforeseen occurrence or condition calling for immediate action.
(8) “Excavate, Excavating or Excavation” means cutting, sawing, breaking, drilling into, boring under, or otherwise altering any Public Street or sidewalk pavement, and/or digging, drilling into or boring under any unpaved portion of the Right-of-Way, including any other work or activity which disturbs the existing surface or subsurface structure, composition, or soil compaction.
(9) “Excess Capacity” means the volume or capacity in any existing or future Facility in the Right-of-Way that is or will be available for use for additional Facilities.
(10) “Facilities or Facility” means the plant, equipment and property, including but not limited to, cables, fibers, wires, lines, pipes, conduits, ducts, pedestals, antennae, electronics, poles, pipes, mains, plant, equipment and other appurtenances located under, on or above the surface of the ground in the Right-of-Way of the City and used or to be used to operate a System to transmit, receive, distribute, provide or offer a service, publicly or privately.
(11) “Lane Obstruction” means the blocking or diverting of vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic from a street or sidewalk for the purpose of Constructing, Excavating, maintaining or operating any Facility, including (A) the lifting or removing of manhole or handhole covers, and (B) the opening or accessing of at-grade or pole-mounted cabinets, pedestals, transformers, power supplies, amplifiers, splice enclosures, traps or other Facilities.
(12) “New Service Orders” means the connection from the Service Provider's existing Facilities on private property for the purpose of providing a new Service to a customer in the City.
(13) “Occupancy, Occupy or Use” means, with respect to the Right-of-Way, to place a tangible thing in the Right-of-Way for any purpose, including, but not limited to, Constructing, repairing, positioning, maintaining or operating lines, poles, pipes, conduits, ducts, equipment or other structures, appurtenances or Facilities necessary to operate, or relating to, a System for the delivery of Services or private services over the Right-of-Way.
(14) “ODOT” means the Ohio Department of Transportation.
(15) “Other Ways” means the highways, streets, alleys, Utility Easements or other rights-of-way within the City, but under the jurisdiction and control of a governmental entity other than the City.
(16) “Overhead Facilities” means utility poles that extend more than eight (8) feet above the surface of the Rights-of-Way and wires, cables and other such equipment running between and on such poles more than eight (8) feet above the surface of the Rights-of-Way, including the underground supports and foundations for such Facilities.
(17) “Person” means and includes corporations, companies, associations, joint stock companies or associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies, trusts and individuals and includes their lessors, trustees and receivers.
(18) “Public Easement” means any easement under the jurisdiction and control of the City and acquired, established, dedicated or devoted for public purposes, including utility purposes.
(19) “Public Street” means the paved and unpaved portion of any street, road, boulevard, drives, highway, freeway, parkway, lane court, alley or other Right-of-Way in which the City has an interest in law or equity and which has been acquired, established, dedicated or devoted to street purposes.
(20) “Public Way Fee” means a fee levied to recover the costs incurred by the City and associated with the Occupancy or Use of a Right-of-Way as provided in Chapter 4939 of the Ohio Revised Code.
(21) “PUCO or Public Utilities Commission of Ohio” means the State Administrative agency, or lawful successor, authorized to regulate and oversee certain Public Service Providers and Services in the State of Ohio.
(22) “Reconstruct, Reconstruction, etc.” means substantial physical change to or Capital Improvement of all or a portion of an existing System or Facilities including, but not limited to, the addition or alteration of Facilities to accommodate the provision of an additional Service or Services, and a change in location, or additional locations, of Facilities along the same Right-of-Way involving Construction in Public Streets, Utility Easements, or Right-of-Way.
(23) “Right-of-Way” means the surface of, and the space within, through, on, across, above or below, any Public Street, public road, public highway, public freeway, public lane, public path, public alley, public court, public sidewalk, public boulevard, public parkway, public drive, Public Easement and any other land dedicated or otherwise designated for a compatible public use, which is owned or controlled by the City but excludes a private easement.
(24) “Routine Maintenance means repair, upkeep, replacement or restoration of existing Facilities located in the Right-of-Way that requires no more than three (3) working days to complete, is not an Emergency and does not include Excavation of the Right-of-Way.
(25) “Service” means the offering of water, sewer, electric, gas, telephone, telecommunications, cable television, video, information or other utility- like service directly to the public, or to such classes of users as to be effectively available to the public, or a class of private users, regardless of the Facilities used.
(26) “Service Provider” means any Person who, pursuant to the consent to Occupy or Use the Right-of-Way pursuant to Section 913.02 of this Chapter, directly or indirectly owns, controls, operates or manages Facilities within the City's Right-of-Way, used or to be used for the purpose of operating a System to: (i) offer Service to the public within the City or outside of the City's boundaries or (ii) transmit, receive, distribute or provide telecommunications or other services between or among private buildings or facilities where there is no service offered to the public.
(27) “State” means the State of Ohio.
(28) “Surplus Space” means that portion of the Usable Space on a utility pole that has the necessary clearance from the Facilities of other Public Service Providers using the pole, as required by the orders and regulations of PUCO and other applicable State and local orders and regulations, to allow its use by an additional Service Provider for a pole attachment.
(29) “System” means a network of Facilities for the transmission and/or distribution of a particular Service.
(30) “Trenchless Technology” means the use of directional boring, horizontal drilling and micro-tunneling and other techniques in the Construction of underground portions of Facilities that result in the least amount of disruption and damage to the Right-of-Way as possible.
(31) “Underground Facilities” means that portion of a System located under the surface of the ground, excluding the underground foundations or supports for Overhead Facilities.
(32) “Usable Space” means the total distance between the top of a utility pole and the lowest possible attachment point that provides the minimum allowable vertical clearance as specified in the orders and regulations of the PUCO.
(33) “Utility Easement” means any easement owned by a Service Provider and acquired, established, dedicated or devoted for the purpose of providing Service to the public.
(Ord. 2023-49. Passed 6-13-23.)