(a) Subject to the availability of appropriations, the department of transportation services may install and maintain new street lights or maintain existing street lights on those portions of private, nondedicated, and nonsurrendered streets and roads that have been determined by the director of transportation services, with the approval of the director and chief engineer and the director of planning and permitting, to meet the criteria set forth in subdivisions (1) through (11) of § 14-17.2(a) and, with respect to existing street lighting systems, to meet the city’s then current standards for design, construction, installation, equipment, and materials.
Before the city undertakes any street lighting work or assumes any energy costs, all persons having the right to control the use of the portion of the street or road and any other property on which the street lights are or will be located, shall initiate and submit a written request to the director of transportation services for the installation or maintenance of street lights, or both, agreeing to such terms, conditions, and covenants as may be determined by the director of transportation services to be for the convenience and protection of the city and the public, including the granting of necessary easements; provided that one of the conditions persons having the right to control the use of the portion of the street or road and any other property shall agree to is the condition that they keep the street or road open to the general public for as long as the city maintains the street lights on the street or road or for the period of time specified in the agreement, whichever is longer. The requirement for a written request and agreement does not apply, however, to a:
(1) Street or road over which the department of transportation services exercises street lighting maintenance responsibilities on the day before December 19, 1996*; or
(2) A street or road that the director of transportation services, with the approval of the director and chief engineer and the director of planning and permitting, determines has been dedicated by implication to public use for roadway purposes; provided that nothing contained herein is construed as prohibiting the director of transportation services from requiring a written agreement for new maintenance work on streets or roads over which the department of transportation services exercises street lighting maintenance responsibilities on the day before December 19, 1996* if the director of transportation services determines that such an agreement is in the best interests of the city.
(b) Maintenance work to be performed by the city pursuant to this section shall include but not be limited to replacing and upgrading street light fixtures, photoelectric cells, and bulbs as necessary and paying energy costs applicable to such street lights.
(c) The director of transportation services, with the approval of the director and chief engineer, shall discontinue maintenance of street lighting systems for specific private, nondedicated, and nonsurrendered streets and roads, including the payment of energy costs, when the director of transportation services determines that such streets and roads no longer meet the criteria referred to in subsection (a), or when requested in writing by the persons having the right to control the use of the portion of the street or road or of the other property on which the street lights are located. Before discontinuing maintenance of street lighting systems or payment of energy costs for any private, nondedicated, and nonsurrendered street or road, the director of transportation services shall provide each owner and roadway easement holder of record of the street, road, or property with 30 days’ written notice of such proposed action. Where maintenance is discontinued because the street or road is signed, marked, delineated, fenced, barricaded, or otherwise designed, constructed, or operated to exclude the general public, in whole or in part, the director of transportation services is authorized, in the director’s discretion and to the extent legally and economically feasible, to recover any removable standards, fixtures, photoelectric cells, or bulbs installed by the city, or to recover from the owners or roadway easement holders of the street, road, or other property, as may be appropriate, the value of the standards, fixtures, photoelectric cells, or bulbs left in place.
(d) Nothing contained in this section and no action undertaken pursuant to this section shall be construed as adoption, acceptance, or approval of a private, nondedicated, and nonsurrendered street or road as a public highway.
(1990 Code, Ch. 14, Art. 32, § 14-32.3) (Added by Ord. 96-73)
Editor’s note:
* “December 19, 1996” is substituted for “the effective date of this article.”