(A) Underground installations. All installations shall be underground in those areas of the county where public utilities providing telephone and electric service are underground at the time of installation.
(1) In areas where either telephone or electric utility facilities are above ground at the time of installation, the grantee may install its service above ground, provided that, at such time as those facilities are required to be placed underground by the county or are placed underground, the grantee shall likewise place its services underground without additional cost to the county or to the individual subscriber so served.
(2) Where not otherwise required to be placed underground by this chapter or the franchise agreement, the grantee's system shall be located underground at the request of the adjacent property owner, provided that the excess cost over the aerial location shall be borne by the property owner making the request.
(3) All new cable passing under the roadway shall be installed in conduit or PVC sheathing no less than 18 inches from the top of the conduit to the surface of the ground.
(B) Interference with persons, improvements, public and private property and utilities. The grantee's system and facilities, including poles, lines, equipment and all appurtenances, shall be located, erected and maintained so that such facilities shall:
(1) Not endanger or interfere with the health, safety or lives of persons;
(2) Not interfere with any improvements the city, county or state may deem proper to make;
(3) Not interfere with the free and proper use of public streets, alleys, bridges, easements or other public ways, places or property, except to the minimum extent possible during actual construction or repair;
(4) Not interfere with the rights and reasonable convenience of private property owners, except to the minimum extent possible during actual construction or repair; and
(5) Not obstruct, hinder or interfere with any gas, electric, water or telephone facilities or other utilities located within the county.
(C) Restoration to prior condition.
(1) In case of any disturbance of pavement, sidewalk, driveway or other surfacing, the grantee shall, at its own cost and expense and in a manner approved by the county, replace and restore all paving, sidewalk, driveway, landscaping or surface of any street or alley disturbed, in as good a condition as, or better than, before said work was commenced and in a good workmanlike, timely manner in accordance with standards for such work set by the county.
(2) Such restoration shall be undertaken within no more than ten business days after the disturbance is incurred and shall be completed as soon as possible thereafter.
(D) Restoration of the facilities. In the event that at any time during the period of this franchise the city, county or state shall lawfully elect to alter or change the grade of any street, alley or other public ways, the grantee, upon reasonable notice by the proper authority, shall remove or relocate as necessary its poles, wires, cables, underground conduits, manholes and other fixtures at its own expense.
(E) Cooperation with building movers. The grantee shall, on the request of any person holding a building moving permit issued by the county, temporarily raise or lower its wire to permit the moving of buildings.
(1) The expense of such temporary removal, raising or lowering of wires shall be paid by the person requesting the same, and the grantee shall have the authority to require such payment in advance.
(2) The grantee shall be given not less than 15 working days advance notice to arrange for such temporary wire changes.
(F) Tree trimming. The grantee shall have the authority, except when in conflict with existing county ordinances, to trim any trees upon and overhanging public rights-of-way so as to prevent the branches of such trees from coming in contact with system facilities, except that at the option of county, such trimming may be done by it, or under its supervision and direction, at the expense of the grantee.
(G) Easements.
(1) All necessary easements over and under private property shall be arranged for by the grantee.
(2) Any easements over or under property owned by the county other than the public rights-of-way shall be separately negotiated with the county.
(H) Work within right-of-way. The closing of any part of a publicly maintained street or right-of-way must be approved by the county or state and shall not unreasonably impede traffic flow.
(1) During repairs or improvements traffic on streets must be maintained.
(2) Where full closing of the street is required, the request for approval must be submitted at least ten days in advance.
(3) Closings will not be permitted in the central business district during the holiday shopping season.
(4) Where emergency closings are necessary, the county is to be notified as soon as possible.
(5) All closings are to be protected and signed.
(I) Removal of county or state property. No county or state property is to be removed from a right-of-way, including signing on utility poles, without proper permission from the county.
(J) No burden on public rights-of-way.
(1) The grantee shall not erect, install, construct, repair, replace or maintain its cable system in such a fashion as to unduly burden the present or future use of the streets or public rights-of-way.
(2) If the county, in its reasonable judgment, determines that any portion of the cable system is an undue burden, the grantee at its expense shall modify its cable system or take such other actions as the county may determine is in the public interest to remove or alleviate the burden, and grantee shall do so within the time period established by the county.
(K) Barriers. While any portion of the streets or public rights-of-way are open, grantee shall maintain reasonable barriers, lights at night and other warnings to the users of the streets or public rights-of-way in compliance with applicable government regulations requiring and pertaining to such barriers.
(L) Soil erosion.
(1) All construction shall be in accordance with state and local laws and regulations regarding soil erosion.
(2) The grantee or grantee's contractor shall correct any violation at the direction of the county and at the grantee's expense.
(M) Utility crowding.
(1) In areas of the county where the county or state finds that the public rights-of-way will not accommodate further underground facilities, the county or state may require that the grantee's conduits be oversized, duplicated, or placed in multiple configurations, and grantee shall share the use of its underground conduits and multiple configurations at such locations at reasonable rates.
(2) Such rates shall be determined by the county or state if the grantee and third parties cannot agree on same.
(N) Removal of obsolete facilities/cooperation. When the grantee opens a trench, accesses a conduit or boring, or is working on aerial locations, it shall remove all obsolete cable system facilities from such locations.
(1) When grantee opens a trench or access to underground bores, it shall notify all other grantees and permittees in advance of such work, so that they may remove their obsolete facilities from such locations. The grantee shall cooperate with such persons in such activities.
(2) When grantee receives notification from another grantee or permittee that it is opening a trench or access to underground bores, the grantee shall remove all of its obsolete facilities from such location while they are opened.
(O) Vacating of rights-of-way. If a public right-of-way is vacated, eliminated, discontinued, or closed, all rights of grantee under its franchise to use the same shall terminate and the grantee at its expense shall immediately remove the cable systems from such public right-of-way unless the grantee obtains any necessary easements from the affected property owners to use the former public right-of-way.
(P) Acquisition of right-of-way. In acquiring or widening public right-of-way, the county or state shall determine the minimum right-of-way necessary to accommodate paved streets, pedestrian walkways, landscaping, traffic signals, drainage, water and sewer lines and other governmental facilities.
(Q) Pavement cut coordination/additional fees. The grantee shall coordinate its construction program and all other work in the public rights-of-way with county's or state's program for street construction, rebuilding, resurfacing and repair (hereinafter collectively referred to as "street resurfacing"). The grantee shall meet with the official of the county responsible for such program at least twice per year to this end.
(1) The goals of such coordination shall be to require grantee to conduct all work in the public rights-of-way in conjunction with or immediately prior to any street resurfacing planned by the county. The grantee shall provide timely notice to the county prior to such work and grantee shall have applied for permits as required in Section 2-1.(c).
(2) In addition to any other fees or payments required by this chapter and the franchise, grantee shall pay to the county any costs required under local ordinances. This fee is in addition to and not in lieu of the obligation to restore the public rights-of-way.
(Ord. 3502, passed 10-7-02)