Skip to code content (skip section selection)
Compare to:
Palo Alto Overview
Palo Alto Municipal Code
PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE
CHARTER OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO
Title 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS
Title 2 ADMINISTRATIVE CODE*
Title 3 RESERVED
Title 4 BUSINESS LICENSES AND REGULATIONS*
Title 5 HEALTH AND SANITATION*
Title 6 ANIMALS
Title 7 RESERVED
Title 8 TREES AND VEGETATION
Title 9 PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND SAFETY*
Title 10 VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC*
Title 11 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT PROCEDURE
Title 12 PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Title 13 IMPROVEMENT PROCEDURE*
Title 14 RESERVED
Title 15 FIRE PREVENTION*
Title 16 BUILDING REGULATIONS*
Title 17 HAZARDOUS MATERIALS STORAGE*
Title 18 ZONING*
Title 19 MASTER PLAN*
Title 20 PRECISE PLANS*
Title 21 SUBDIVISIONS AND OTHER DIVISIONS OF LAND*
Title 22 PARKS*
ORDINANCE LIST AND DISPOSITION TABLE
Loading...
12.16.093   Filing assessment list.
   (a)   After the formation of the underground utility district but before the accomplishment of the underground service connection construction, the council shall determine the properties the affected owners of which have exercised the option to pay the cost over a period of ten years and shall direct that the base cost and incidental expense shall be paid by the city subject to payment of the special assessment in the manner hereinafter set forth.
   (b)   A complete assessment roll or list of the affected properties subject to the payments over a period of ten years, identifying them and setting forth the respective amounts of the proposed special assessments, shall be prepared by the director of utilities, or his designee, and filed in the offices of the city clerk and the director of utilities and published and filed in the office of the county of Santa Clara assessor.
(Ord. 4908 § 9, 2006: Ord. 2611 § 10, 1971: Ord. 2527 § 3, 1969)
12.16.094   Payment of base cost - Establishment of special assessment lien.
   Upon completion (pursuant to Section 12.16.090) of the underground service connection construction on any parcel as to which the payment option has been exercised, the affected owner who accomplished the construction may file with the director of utilities, or his designee, a verified claim for the base cost and incidental expense. The claim shall be audited and paid in the manner provided by law.
(Ord. 4908 § 10, 2006: Ord. 2527 § 4, 1969)
12.16.095   Notice - Lien.
   (a)   Concurrently with such payment on which the affected property owner will pay over a period of ten years, the director of utilities, or his designee, consistent with Section 12.16.093(b), shall publish and file the assessment roll or list in the office of the county of Santa Clara assessor with respect to the payments over a period of ten years or record a notice of assessment in the office of the county of Santa Clara recorder in substantially the following form:
NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT
   Pursuant to the requirements of Sections 12.16.091 to 12.16.097, inclusive, of the Palo Alto Municipal Code, the undersigned director of utilities, or his designee, hereby gives notice of a special assessment in the amount of $ _________ against the following described property: [Insert description]   Notice is further given that the special assessment shall become a lien upon the property described herein upon the filing of the assessment roll or list and the recording of this notice in the office of the county of Santa Clara assessor.
The City of Palo Alto
By:      _____________________________
      Director of Utilities
Dated:   _____________________________
   (b)   The notice of assessment shall set forth the name of the owner of record, the property address, the assessor's parcel number, the legal description of the affected property, and a certification by the director of utilities that the service connection cost has been paid by the city on behalf of the owner of the described affected property against which the lien is filed or recorded. Such lien shall remain a lien until a full release and discharge is made pursuant to the provision of this chapter.
   (c)   Upon the filing of the assessment roll or the recordation of the notice of assessment set forth in Section 12.16.095(a) and (b), the amount of the special assessment shall constitute a lien on the parcel of property described in the notice for the amount of such assessment until paid, with the same priority as special assessment liens established pursuant to Title 13 of this code. All remedies available for the enforcement and collection of liens established under Title 13 shall apply to liens established under this chapter.
(Ord. 4908 § 11, 2006: Ord. 2527 § 5, 1969)
12.16.096   Collection and payment.
   The affected property owner shall pay the assessment and interest to the city in accordance with paragraph (a).
   (a)   The principal amount of each of the assessments shall, upon filing or recordation, become payable in equal annual installments over a period of ten years as set forth in the notice provided for in Section 12.16.092, with interest computed at a rate equal to three-quarters of one percent in excess of the rate shown in the New York Bond Buyer Index of Municipal Bond Average Yields for twenty year bonds for the week next preceding the day on which the underground utility district is ordered formed. The amounts of principal and interest payable on each assessment shall be set forth in the records of the director of utilities and transmitted to the county of Santa Clara assessor. The amounts shown on the director of utilities' record against the respective parcels of land shall be entered on the next tax roll upon which general city taxes are to be collected. Thereafter, such amounts shall be collected at the same time, and in the same manner, as general city taxes are collected, and shall be subject to the same interest and penalties, and the same procedure and sale in case of delinquencies. All laws applicable to the levy, collection and enforcement of city taxes are hereby made applicable to such assessment installments and interest.
(Ord. 4908 § 12, 2006: Ord. 2527 § 6, 1969)
12.16.097   Funding of unpaid assessments.
   The council may, at any time, provide for the issuance of and sell bonds to represent the unpaid principal amounts of any special assessments levied under this chapter under any of the bond plans set forth in Title 13.
(Ord. 2527 § 7, 1969)
12.16.100   Action on noncompliance.
   (a)   In the event the person owning, operating, leasing or renting the affected property does not comply with the provisions of Section 12.16.090 within the time specified therein the director of utilities, or his designee, shall have the authority to order the disconnection and removal of poles, overhead lines and associated overhead structures supplying utility service to the affected property and the utility shall not be thereafter required to provide service to such premises until the owner, tenant or occupant makes the necessary changes.
   (b)   Noncompliance by any person owning, operating, leasing or renting the affected property with the provisions of Section 12.16.090 shall constitute a misdemeanor. Until such time as notice is given pursuant to the provisions of Section 12.16.080 the utility shall not be in violation of this chapter, or any ordinance enacted pursuant to the provisions of Section 12.16.040 in continuing to maintain overhead facilities necessary to serve such person during the period of such noncompliance and such reasonable time thereafter as may be necessary to remove those facilities.
(Ord. 4908 § 13, 2006: Ord. 2231 (part), 1965: prior code § 37.210)
12.16.110   Cost of removal a lien.
   The cost of disconnecting and removing poles, overhead lines and associated overhead structures supplying electric service incurred by the city under Section 12.16.100 shall become a lien on the property theretofore served from the same. The procedure for imposing such a lien shall be as provided in Sections 8.08.060-8.08.090 of this code for weed abatement liens.
(Ord. 2231 (part), 1965: prior code § 37.211)