Upon receipt of a properly completed application with all required information attached and the payment of all required fees, the application for the closing of easements or public ways shall be processed as set forth herein.
A. The public works director shall give written notice of the pending application to all city departments who use public ways or easements and to all companies whose franchises with the city entitle them to the use of public ways or easements, as applicable to such application. Such notice shall require that all comments on the application shall be made in writing to the public works director within thirty (30) days from the date of the written notice.
B. Within a reasonable period of time after the expiration of the thirty (30) day notice period, the public works director shall recommend to the governing body of the city action to be taken upon application.
C. Upon receipt of the report and recommendation of the public works director, the governing body of the city may, without giving further notice to any third party, approve or deny, either in whole or in part, any application seeking to vacate an easement or close a public way which has not been open for public use for more than five (5) years immediately preceding the date of the filing of such application.
If the application seeks to close a public way which has been open for public use within the five (5) year period immediately preceding the date of the filing such application, the governing body of the city shall set a date for public hearing thereon and direct notice to be given by certified mail to all property owners shown on the list furnished by the applicant. Such notice shall be given at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the scheduled public hearing, shall identify the nature of the pending proceeding and shall direct that any person having an objection to the pending application must appear at the public hearing to advise the governing body of the city of the nature of his objection. On the date of the scheduled public hearing, the governing body of the city shall inquire into the merits of the application and upon determination of all issues, shall approve or deny, either in whole or in part, the proposed closing.
D. Upon approval of any application, the city manager or his/her designee shall be directed to prepare a proper ordinance closing the public way or easement; upon its adoption, the costs for publications of such ordinance shall be determined, and upon the payment of such costs to the city of Grove by the applicant, the city shall have the ordinance published. (Ord. 629, 11-1-2011)