[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Oil
City as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 1-9-1899 by Ord. No. 445 (Ch. 135, Art. I, of the
1986 Code)]
For the purposes of this article, the City of Oil City shall
be divided into districts as follows:
A.
District No. 1 shall be bounded as follows: Beginning at the northwest
corner of Petroleum and Main Streets; thence running in a straight
line to the west end of Duncomb Street; thence along the north side
of Duncomb Street to the tracks of the Western New York and Pennsylvania
Railroad; thence with said tracks southward to Centre Street; thence
with the north side of said street to Spring Street; thence with the
east side of Spring Street to Colbert Avenue; thence crossing the
Allegheny River to Short Street; thence with the east side of Short
Street to Second Street; thence with the south side of Second Street
to Petroleum Street; thence with the west side of Petroleum Street
to the place of beginning.
B.
District No. 2 shall contain all of Oil City not included in District
No. 1.
In all of said highways in District No. 1, all line wires and
all guy wires and, where not dangerous to the occupants of the buildings
served, all service wires shall be at least 35 feet above the surface
of the street at every point, except the trolley and span wires of
street railway companies.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Each and every pole of any telegraph, telephone, electric
light or street railway company erected for the purpose of supporting
wires intended for the conveyance of electricity or for the purpose
of guying or otherwise supporting such poles, and the term shall refer
to no other pole.
Every pole in said City of Oil City shall, on or before the
first day of May in each year and before the license hereafter mentioned
is granted, be plainly marked with the initials of the corporation
controlling said pole and with a serial number, said letters and numbers
being at least two inches high and placed eight feet above the surface
of the street, said numbers to be maintained on each of said poles
as long as it occupies substantially the same location.
The City shall have the right at any and all times to use the
poles of any company or companies for the purpose of stringing their
wires and have access to such poles for repairs, etc.
[Amended 9-8-1986 by Ord. No. 2452]
Both sides of any part of any highway shall not be occupied
by poles owned or used by one company. This section shall not apply,
however, to the poles of street railway companies.
[Amended 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970; 8-23-1921 by Ord. No. 1001]
Before September 1, 1899, every pole now erected and, also within
six months of its erection, every new pole shall be painted, and said
paint shall at all times thereafter be maintained in good condition.
Said paint shall be black for the first six feet above the ground,
and the remainder shall be green or such other color as may be authorized
by the Director of the Department of Public Works; except that poles
already painted some other color shall not be required to conform
to the foregoing colors until they need repainting.
[Amended 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970; 8-23-1921 by Ord. No. 1001]
All poles in District No. 1, except the trolley poles of street
railways, shall be provided with steps, and spurs shall not be used
in climbing the same. No steps shall hereafter be placed on any poles
in the City lower than seven feet four inches from the ground, but
poles which are provided with steps above that height shall be equipped
with pole step sockets in which to insert portable pole steps. Pole
steps shall always be placed on a line with the street in which the
pole is located.
No notices or advertisements shall be nailed, tacked or otherwise
fastened to any pole in Oil City without the written consent of the
owner, which consent shall be exhibited upon the demand of any policeman;
and either the person so affixing such notice or the party causing
it to be done shall be subject to the penalty provided for the violation
of the provisions of this article.
All poles hereafter set or reset shall be placed as follows:
A.
On all streets having grass plots: in the center of the grass plots.
B.
On all other streets, the center of the pole shall coincide with
the center of the curb, except where area walls prevent the same.
C.
In case of special obstruction, as area walls, etc., they shall be
placed as the Council may in each case by resolution determine.
D.
All poles shall be so spaced as to interfere as little as possible
with the convenient use of the highways and with the adjoining properties.
E.
No pole shall be set or reset without notice being filed with the
City Controller one day in advance of such setting or resetting. Whenever
any pole is in such location as to interfere with any public improvement
or with reasonable access to the abutting property, said pole shall,
upon written notice from the City Engineer, be removed to a new location,
at the expense of the party owning the pole.
[Amended 2-14-1921 by Ord. No. 995; 8-23-1921 by Ord. No. 1001]
Hereafter, in setting or resetting poles in any highway in Oil
City, the party or parties causing said work to be done shall restore
the portion of said highway broken up or disturbed to as good condition
as existed previous thereto and maintain the same in such good condition
for one year thereafter. In case any such pole is abandoned, all of
such pole shall be removed from the highway by the company owning
the pole, and said highway is to be placed in as good condition as
that part of the highway in the immediate vicinity. Said work is to
be done under the supervision of the City Engineer.
Without license as provided by this or other ordinance of the
City of Oil City, no poles shall be erected or maintained by telegraph,
telephone, electric light or street railway companies in any street,
alley or highway of Oil City after June 1, 1899.
[Amended 5-28-1908 by Ord. No. 642; 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970; 8-23-1921 by Ord. No. 1001]
The license fee for each and every pole shall be $0.50 per annum,
which shall be collected as similar license fees are by law collected.
It shall be the duty of the owners of all poles, on or before
the first day of June 1899, and on or before the first day of June
of each and every year thereafter, to make application to the Mayor
of Oil City for a license to maintain the poles theretofore erected
for the ensuing year, which application shall be upon blanks or forms
furnished by the City and shall state the name of the company, firm
or person owning such poles, the serial number and location of each
pole, the purpose for which it is used and whether or not such poles
or any of them are used to carry the wires of any other company or
companies and, if so, the names of such companies, and any other information
called for by said blanks or forms. Upon the making of such application
and the payment of the license fees hereinbefore provided, the Mayor
shall issue a license to said applicant, which shall authorize the
maintenance of the poles designated in said application for the period
of one year only from the first day of June, the date of the application.
[Amended 5-28-1908 by Ord. No. 642; 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970; 8-23-1921 by Ord. No. 1001]
Hereafter, no pole shall be newly erected in any street, alley or highway of Oil City unless a license is first obtained from the Mayor, upon application in the same manner as provided in § 233-14 for poles already erected, and containing the same items of information, and the license fee for every such new pole shall be $0.75, and no other license fee for such pole shall be required until the first day of June following its erection.
It shall be the duty of the City Engineer to make an inspection
during the month of May of each and every year of all the poles erected
on the streets, alleys and highways of the City of Oil City for the
purposes heretofore mentioned and make a report in writing of the
result of his inspection to the Council, and should any such pole
be found unsafe and dangerous to the safety of the public, it shall
be the duty of the Director of the Department of Public Works to notify
the owner of such pole to remove or replace the same, and unless said
owner complies with said notice within 10 days, then said Director
shall remove said pole at the expense of the owner.
[Amended 9-8-1986 by Ord. No. 2452]
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall,
upon conviction thereof, be punishable by a fine not exceeding $300
and costs of prosecution or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding
90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
[Added 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970]
Hereafter, only one line of poles shall be erected on any highway
unless, in the opinion of the City Engineer, the use of joint poles
by the corporations requiring wires on said highway is impracticable.
Applications for license for new poles shall be on forms prescribed
by the City Engineer and shall be first presented to him. No license
shall be granted until the City Engineer's approval shall have
been endorsed on the application. Such approval shall not be given
if it is practicable for the company making the application to use
poles already on the same highway belonging to another corporation,
nor if a joint line of poles would be practicable by replacing the
existing poles with higher ones. The first corporation to apply for
a license for a pole on a highway where there are no existing poles
shall be required to erect poles of such height as to accommodate
the wires of all corporations likely to want lines on said highway
within a period of 15 years, so far as the same can be foreseen.
[Added 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970]
No pole shall be replaced without the approval of the City Engineer.
Whenever an old pole line is to be reconstructed, or when the improvement
of a highway or portion of the same shall necessitate the moving of
a majority of the poles of any corporation occupying said highway
or portion thereof, the City Engineer shall require the joint use
of poles so far as practicable.
[Added 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970]
All electric wires except the trolley and span wires of street
railway companies shall, where crossing a roadway or footway, be carried
at an elevation of at least 21 feet above the crown of the roadway
and at least 15 feet above the footway. All guy wires crossing a roadway
or footway shall clear the roadway by at least 18 feet and the footway
by at least 12 feet and shall be kept at least eight feet from the
ground, wherever possible. All guy wires attached to poles carrying
electric light or power wires shall be insulated by the insertion
of two strain insulators.
[Added 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970; amended 8-23-1921 by Ord. No.
1001]
All electric light or power wires temporarily out of service
shall be cut dead if left on poles. All wires permanently out of service
shall be at once entirely removed from the poles.
[Added 4-10-1920 by Ord. No. 970]
No telephone or electric light company shall suspend wires within
the limits of any public highway in order to give service to any purchaser
or owner of a lot on a plan of building lots which has not been approved
by the City Planning Commission.
[Adopted 3-6-1915 by Ord. No. 846 (Ch. 135, Art. II, of
the 1986 Code)]
Hereafter, it shall be unlawful for any telegraph or telephone
company or company operating low-tension wires for telegraph or telephone
purposes to erect, maintain, set or reset any pole or poles for the
purpose of suspending such wires or cables, or to suspend such wires
or cables within the first and second districts of said City of Oil
City, as defined by Ord. No. 808 of said City,[1] except such distributing poles as are provided for in
Section 2 of said ordinance.[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: The districts delineated in Ord. No. 808
are as follows:
"Section 1. The first district within which all telephone
and telegraph wires in the City of Oil City shall be placed underground,
in the conduits owned by the Petroleum Telephone Company, is designated
as follows: Seneca Street and Elm Street, from the Erie Railroad on
the south to Duncomb Street on the north; Sycamore Street, from Oil
Creek to Spring Street; Center Street, from Oil Creek to Spring Street;
Spring Street, from Center Street to its intersection with Spruce
Street; Main Street, from Oil Creek to its intersection with North
Petroleum Street; and all alleys and cross streets not specifically
mentioned within the district bounded as follows: Beginning at the
intersection of the Erie Railroad and the easterly bank of Oil Creek,
running thence by the easterly bank of said creek to a point where
the south line of Duncomb Street extended would meet said easterly
bank; thence eastwardly along said south line of Duncomb Street to
the track of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; thence southwardly
along said Pennsylvania Railroad tracks to the southeast corner of
land of the Enterprise Milling Company; thence eastwardly, in a straight
line, to the intersection of the west line of Plumer Road with the
east line of Spruce Street; thence east to the east line of Plumer
Road; thence southwardly, along said east line of Plumer Road, to
the east line of Spring Street; thence southwardly along the east
line of Spring Street to its intersection with the south line of Graff
Street; thence westwardly in a direct line to the place of beginning.
Section 3. The second district within which all telephone
and telegraph wires in said City shall be placed underground in the
conduits of the Petroleum Telephone Company is designated as follows:
First Alley, from State Street to Petroleum Street; Orchard Alley,
from Petroleum Street to the east line of Lower Division Street; North
Street, from the east line of Lower Division Street to Wyllis Street;
Hazel Alley, from First Alley to Fourth Street; State Street, from
Front Street to Second Street; First Street, from State Street to
Short Street; Short Street, from First Street to East Second Street;
East Second Street, from Short Street to Pine Street; Pine Street,
from Second Alley to Fourth Alley."
[2]
Editor's Note: The distribution poles provided for in
Section 2 of Ord. No 808 are such distribution poles as shall be placed
when absolutely necessary, the location for which shall be determined
by the Council and the City Engineer.
[Amended 9-8-1986 by Ord. No. 2452]
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall,
upon conviction thereof, be punishable by a fine not exceeding $300
and costs of prosecution or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding
90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
