Chapter 12.30
CITY RIGHTS-OF-WAY
Sections:
12.30.02 Authorization from city required.
12.30.03 Health, safety, and welfare regulations.
12.30.04 Specific portions of right-of-way restricted.
12.30.05 Compliance with Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
12.30.06 Additional requirements.
12.30.01 Definitions.
“Occupant” means any person, firm, corporation, association, utility, or entity, which enters upon the right-of-way of the city, or in any manner establishes a physical presence on, upon, in or over the right-of-way of the city, for the purpose of installing, constructing, maintaining or operating lines, conduits, wires, fiber optic wires, cables, pipes, pipelines, poles, towers, vaults or appliances, or related facilities or appurtenances thereto.
“Public right-of-way” means only the area of real property in which the city has a dedicated or acquired right-of-way interest in the real property. It shall include the area on, below or above the present and future streets, alleys, avenues, roads, highways, parkways or boulevards dedicated or acquired as right-of-way. The term does not include the airwaves above a right-of-way with regard to wireless telecommunications or other nonwire telecommunications or broadcast service, easements obtained by utilities or private easements in platted subdivisions or tracts. (Ord. 900 § 1)
12.30.02 Authorization from city required.
(a) No person, firm, corporation, association, utility, or entity shall enter upon the right-of-way of the city, or in any manner establish a physical presence on, upon, in or over the right-of-way of the city, for the purpose of installing, constructing, maintaining or operating lines, conduits, wires, fiber optic wires, cables, pipes, pipelines, poles, towers, vaults or appliances, or related facilities or appurtenances thereto, without the express written permission of the city. The permission of the city may be granted by a franchise agreement pursuant to the provisions of K.S.A. 12-2001 et seq. or by such other agreement as the governing body determines best protects the public interest in the right-of-way.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted as granting an occupant the authority to construct, maintain or operate any facility or related appurtenance on property owned by a city outside of the public right-of-way.
(c) The city shall process each valid and administratively complete application (available online at http://www.codepublishing.com/KS/BaxterSprings/pdf/900applications.pdf) for use of the right-of-way within 30* days. (Ord. 900 § 2; amended during 2016 recodification)
* Code reviser’s note: At the city’s request, this section was amended as part of the 2016 recodification to change the number of days for application processing. The city intends to pass supporting legislation in the future.
12.30.03 Health, safety, and welfare regulations.
The authority of a provider to use and occupy the public right-of-way shall always be subject and subordinate to the reasonable public health, safety and welfare requirements and regulations of the city. (Ord. 900 § 3)
12.30.04 Specific portions of right-of-way restricted.
(a) The city shall have the authority to prohibit the use or occupation of a specific portion of public right-of-way by a provider due to a reasonable public interest necessitated by public health, safety and welfare so long as the authority is exercised in a competitively neutral manner and is not unreasonable or discriminatory. A reasonable public interest shall include but not be limited to the following:
(1) The prohibition is based upon a recommendation of the city engineer, is related to public health, safety and welfare and is nondiscriminatory among providers, including incumbent providers;
(2) The provider has rejected a reasonable, competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory justification offered by the city for requiring an alternate method or alternate route that will result in neither unreasonable additional installation expense nor a diminution of service quality;
(3) The city reasonably determines, after affording the provider reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard, that a denial is necessary to protect the public health and safety and is imposed on a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis; or
(4) The specific portion of the public right-of-way for which the provider seeks use and occupancy is environmentally sensitive as defined by state or federal law or lies within a previously designated historic district as defined by local, state or federal law.
(b) If the city denies a request to use or occupy a specific portion of the public right-of-way, the requester shall be served a notice of such denial by first class mail. The notice shall indicate that the requester shall have 10 days from the date of receipt of the notice to request a public hearing by the city governing body concerning the denial. Failure to make a timely request for a hearing shall constitute a waiver of the person’s right to contest the denial before the governing body. The hearing shall be held by the governing body within 30 days after the filing of the request therefor, and the potential occupant shall be advised by the city of the time and place of the hearing. Following the public hearing, if the city governing body denies a potential occupant’s request to use or occupy a specific portion of the public right-of-way, such determination may be appealed to district court. (Ord. 900 § 4)
12.30.05 Compliance with Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
Any occupant of the public right-of-way shall comply with the provisions of Standards and Guides for Traffic Controls for Street and Highway Construction, Maintenance, Utility, and Incident Management Operations, Part VI of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), published by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, 1988 Edition, Revision 3, dated September 3, 1993, which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein. (Ord. 900 § 5)
12.30.06 Additional requirements.
City may impose additional requirements on right-of-way occupants so long as they do not include the following:
(a) Requirements that particular business offices or other telecommunications facilities be located in the city;
(b) Requirements for filing applications, reports and documents that are not reasonably related to the use of a public right-of-way or this act;
(c) Requirements for city approval of transfers of ownership or control of the business or assets of a provider’s business, except that a city may require that such entity maintain current point of contact information and provide notice of a transfer within a reasonable time; and
(d) Requirements concerning the provisioning of or quality of customer services, facilities, equipment or goods in-kind for use by the city, political subdivision or any other provider or public utility. (Ord. 900 § 6)
12.30.07 Emergencies.
If there is an emergency necessitating response work or repair, any person, firm, corporation, association, utility, or entity which has been granted permission to occupy the public right-of-way may begin that repair or emergency response work or take any action required under the circumstances; provided, that the person, firm, corporation, association, utility, or entity notifies the city promptly after beginning the work and timely thereafter meets any permit or other requirement had there not been such an emergency. (Ord. 900 § 7)
12.30.08 Repair.
Any occupant of the public right-of-way is hereby required to repair all damage to a public right-of-way caused by the activities of that occupant, or of any agent affiliate, employee, or subcontractor of that occupant, while occupying, installing, repairing or maintaining facilities in a public right-of-way and to return the right-of-way to its functional equivalence before the damage pursuant to the reasonable requirements and specifications of the city. If the occupant fails to make the repairs required by the city, the city may effect those repairs and charge the occupant the cost of those repairs. (Ord. 900 § 8)
12.30.09 Relocation.
Whenever requested by the city, in order to accomplish construction and maintenance activities directly related to improvements for the health, safety and welfare of the public, an occupant promptly shall remove its facilities from the public right-of-way or shall relocate or adjust its facilities within the public right-of-way at no cost to the political subdivision. Such relocation or adjustment shall be completed as soon as reasonably possible within the time set forth in any request by the city for such relocation or adjustment. Any damages suffered by the city or its contractors as a result of such occupant’s failure to timely relocate or adjust its facilities shall be borne by such occupant. (Ord. 900 § 9)
12.30.10 Fees.
The following fees shall be assessed against occupants of the public right-of-way:
(a) A permit fee of $25.00;
(b) An excavation fee to cover for each street or pavement cut (imposition of such excavation fee must be based upon a regional specific or other appropriate study establishing the basis for such costs which takes into account the life of the city street prior to the construction or repair activity and the remaining life of the city street);
(c) An inspection fee of $25.00;
(d) Repair and restoration costs associated with repairing and restoring the public right-of-way because of damage caused by the provider, its assigns, contractors, and/or subcontractors in the right-of-way; and
(e) A performance bond, in a form acceptable to the city, from a surety licensed to conduct surety business in the state of Kansas, insuring appropriate and timely performance in the construction and maintenance of facilities located in the public right-of-way. (Ord. 900 § 10)
12.30.11 Indemnity.
(a) Occupants shall indemnify and hold the city and its officers and employees harmless against any and all claims, lawsuits, judgments, costs, liens, losses, expenses, fees (including reasonable attorney fees and costs of defense), proceedings, actions, demands, causes of action, liability and suits of any kind and nature, including personal or bodily injury (including death), property damage or other harm for which recovery of damages is sought, to the extent that it is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be caused by the negligence of the occupant, any agent, officer, director, representative, employee, affiliate or subcontractor of the provider, or their respective officers, agents, employees, directors or representatives, while installing, repairing or maintaining facilities in a public right-of-way.
(b) The indemnity provided by this subsection does not apply to any liability resulting from the negligence of the city, its officers, employees, contractors or subcontractors. If an occupant and the city are found jointly liable by a court of competent jurisdiction, liability shall be apportioned comparatively in accordance with the laws of this state without, however, waiving any governmental immunity available to the city under state law and without waiving any defenses of the parties under state or federal law.
(c) This section is solely for the benefit of the city and occupant and does not create or grant any rights, contractual or otherwise, to any other person or entity. (Ord. 900 § 11)
12.30.12 Claim notification.
An occupant shall promptly advise the other in writing of any known claim or demand against the provider or the city related to or arising out of the occupant’s activities in a public right-of-way. (Ord. 900 § 12)
12.30.13 Penalty provision.
Any person, firm, corporation, association, utility, entity, or agent, contractor or subcontractor thereof, violating any provision of this chapter, shall be guilty of a municipal offense, and shall upon conviction be subject to a maximum fine of $500.00. Each day of violation shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. (Ord. 900 § 13)