(A) Within 90 days after receiving a complete application for a franchise renewal, the city shall issue a written decision granting or denying the renewal application, in whole or in part. If the application is denied, the decision shall state the reasons for denial.
(B) The purpose of divisions (C) and (D) below is to assure telecommunications providers that the city will not arbitrarily refuse to renew a franchise, while reserving to the city the power to adjust the terms and conditions of a franchise in a reasonable manner in response to changes in the law, industry, and market.
(C) A grantee shall be entitled to a renewal of its franchise for an additional ten-year term, subject to, and contingent upon, the following conditions:
(1) In the city’s judgment, the public way has sufficient capacity to accommodate the grantee’s existing and proposed facilities;
(2) The grantee continues to meet the legal requirements for providing service in the city;
(3) The grantee has complied with all the requirements of this chapter and its franchise;
(4) Applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, and policies allow the grantee to continue its operations in the city; and
(5) The grantee agrees to comply with such additional requirements as may be imposed under division (D) below.
(D) At the time of renewal of a franchise, the city may require grantee to:
(1) Pay additional compensation, or pay compensation calculated in a different manner, for the rights granted by the franchise. Any additional or new compensation requirements shall be consistent with the requirements imposed on other similarly-situated telecommunications providers at the time of renewal;
(2) Comply with any amendments to this chapter or other applicable provisions of this code that the city has adopted since the franchise was granted or was last renewed, whichever is later; and/or
(3) Agree to amendments to the franchise based on changes to state or federal law.
(E) After the term of the original franchise and any renewals provided for in this section have expired, a grantee must apply for a new franchise under the same terms and conditions as apply to new franchise applications at the time.
(F) No franchise shall be renewed until any and all ongoing violations or defaults in the grantee’s performance of the franchise, or of the requirements of this chapter, have been cured, or a plan detailing the corrective action to be taken by the grantee has been approved by the city.
(Ord. 2021-01, passed 3-10-2021)