(a) The City requires Utility Systems Elements to be in locations that:
(1) Contribute to the public health, safety, welfare or economic development of the City.
(2) Promote cooperation among Revocable Street Privilege Permit holders and the City in the occupation of the Right of Way in order to minimize public inconveniences during Right of Way work and to reduce wasteful, unnecessary or unsightly duplication or installation, operation and maintenance of Utility Systems, including, without limitation, the impacts of the proposed location of applicant's Utility System Elements on aesthetic and architectural compatibility with the surrounding environment.
(3) Promote public health, safety and welfare and protect the Right of Way and Public Property in the most efficient, most aesthetic, visually enhancing and least obtrusive manner, including, without limitation, that all applicable building and zoning codes and air and water pollution laws and regulations are complied with, that aesthetic and good planning principles have been given due consideration, and that adverse impact on the environment has been minimized in addition to minimizing the adverse aesthetic and visual impacts on the land, property, buildings, and other Facilities adjacent to, surrounding, and in generally the same area as the requested location, which shall mean using the least visually and physically intrusive Utility System (including associated screening or vegetation) that is not technologically or commercially impracticable under the facts and circumstances.
(b) To protect the public health, safety, and welfare in recognition of the limitation of space in the public Right of Way, the City Manager shall have the power to prohibit or limit the placement of a new Utility System or additional elements of an existing Utility System within a public Right of Way if there is insufficient space to accommodate all of the requests of persons to occupy and use the public Right of Way. In making such decisions, the City Manager shall strive to the extent possible to accommodate all existing and potential users of the public Right of Way, but shall be guided primarily by considerations of the public interest, the public's needs for the particular utility service, the condition of the public Right of Way, the time of year with respect to essential utilities, the protection of existing elements of Utility Systems in the public Right of Way, and future City plans for public improvements and development projects which have been determined to be in the public interest.
(c) The City Manager may deny a permit to protect the public health, safety and welfare, to prevent interference with the safety and convenience of ordinary travel over the public Right of Way, or when necessary to protect the public Right of Way and its users. The City Manager, in his or her discretion, may consider one of more of the following factors: the extent to which public Right of Way space where the permit is sought is available; the competing demands for the particular space in the Right of Way; the availability of other locations in the public Right of Way or in other public Right of Way for the Utility System elements of the permit applicant; the applicability of ordinance or other regulations of the Right of Way that affect location of Utility System elements in the Right of Way; the degree of compliance of the applicant with the terms and conditions of its franchise, this chapter, and other applicable ordinances and regulations; the degree of disruption to surrounding communities and businesses that will result from the use of that part of the public Right of Way; the condition and age of the public Right of Way, and whether and when it is scheduled for total or partial reconstruction; the balancing of the costs of disruption to the public and damage to the public Right of Way, against the benefits to that part of the public served by the expansion into additional parts of the public Right of Way; and the feasibility of accomplishing the desired goal outside of the public Right of Way.
(Ord. 08-22. Passed 7-3-08.)