[Adopted as Art. XII of the Code of Ordinances]
Any person who petitions for location of electric or other wires,
poles, ducts, conduits or manholes upon, over, through or under any
public ways or over any building shall, when such petition is filed
in the office of the City Clerk, also file a plan showing the street
and number or, if there is no number, the exact proposed location
of such electric or other wires, poles, ducts, conduits or manholes
upon, over, through or under any public way or over any building in
the City.
No telegraph, telephone or electric light company or any other
corporation or person shall erect any post or poles to support wires
or lines for the transmission of electricity in any public way or
grounds, except by order of the City Council, previously obtained,
which shall set forth the exact location of such post or pole proposed
to be erected.
A.
Whenever permission shall be granted by the City Council to erect
and maintain poles, or to construct conduits or other fixtures in
the public ways, bridges or grounds, to support or carry lines, telephone
wires or for the transmission of electricity, the person to whom such
permission is granted shall, within 30 days from the date of the order
granting such permission, file in the office of the City Clerk a written
acceptance of the location of such poles, conduits or other fixtures,
and the conditions upon which the permission has been granted, and
in default thereof such grant shall be null and void.
B.
Such person may, however, at his election, file in the office of
the City Clerk a general acceptance of the location of poles, conduits
or other fixtures, and conditions upon which permission may be granted
by the City Council from time to time to the person, and such acceptance
shall constitute an acceptance of each of such orders, unless such
person shall advise the City Clerk in writing, within 30 days from
the date of the order, of his refusal to accept the locations and
conditions of a specific order.
Whenever the City shall construct, enlarge, relocate, repair
or alter the streets, ways or bridges, or the sewers, water pipes
or other public works, in such streets, ways and bridges where conduits
and wires are laid, which conduits and wires, in the opinion of the
City Council, should be removed or changed in respect to their location,
such removal or change shall be made without delay at the expense
of the person owning or operating the same.
No wire or line for the transmission of electricity for any
purpose shall be attached to any tree, building, erection or fixture
of any kind, in any public way or grounds by cross-arms or otherwise,
except by permission, in writing, of the Inspector of Wires, previously
obtained, in which such tree, building, erection or fixture shall
be described.
Every petition presented to the City Council for permission
to erect posts to support wires or lines, or to attach wires or lines
to trees or other fixtures, for the transmission of electricity for
any purpose, shall be accompanied by or contain a statement of the
exact location of each post proposed to be located, and of each tree,
fixture or building to which it is desired to attach such wires or
lines. The City Council, or in its discretion a committee thereof,
shall give a hearing on every petition to all parties interested,
except as to the attachment of wires and lines to fixtures other than
trees. Notice of such hearing shall be given by the City Clerk at
the expense of the petitioners to all persons owning or occupying
land along the line of the proposed location. Notice shall state briefly
the streets or ways, and parts thereof, and the lands to which such
petition relates, and shall be served by leaving an attested copy
thereof at the last and usual place of abode or business of each person,
or by sending the same through the mail postpaid and directed to each
such person. Such further notice shall be given to any parties interested
as the City Council may direct.
None but sound, reasonably straight, well-formed posts, smooth
and free from decay, of quality satisfactory to the Inspector of Wires,
shall be erected and maintained in any public way, bridge or grounds.
Wooden poles shall be of chestnut, cedar or hard pine, shall be not
less than 25 feet above the ground and shall be set to a depth not
less than five feet, and, on corners or dead ends where impracticable
to guy, shall be set in concrete or keyed, and the name of the company,
corporation or person owning the pole and the number thereof shall
be distinctly attached thereto by means of a metal tag.
All posts erected and maintained in the public ways for the
support of wires and other lines for transmission of electricity shall
as nearly as practicable be set and maintained in a perpendicular
position, of as uniform a height as practicable, and in line with
the street or way, and shall be kept properly painted by the owners
thereof, in such colors and manner as the Inspector of Wires may from
time to time direct.
When poles have been abandoned by the owners thereof, they shall
remove them, unless it is positively known that they will again use
them within 90 days. Wires owned by others on such poles shall be
removed unless the owners of such wires assume the ownership of such
poles, the same to be transferred to them by the original owner by
grant of the City Council.
Except by permission of the Inspector of Wires, new poles shall
not be brought on any street more than two days in advance of the
time they are to be set; and when old poles are taken down, they shall
be removed from the street on the same day.
When renewing poles, the butt of the old pole shall be removed
and the new pole set in the identical or adjacent location, and the
surface of the ground around the pole shall be leveled off, filled
in with material of the same kind as the ground around the pole and
left clear of all material and rubbish. When removing or relocating
poles that are set in the curbline so that a space is left open in
or between the existing curb, such shall be refilled with cement or
concrete, or with granite curbing if the Director of Engineering,
Commissioner of Public Services, Public Works so requires.
Except by permission of the City Council, no wire or other line
for the transmission of electricity, except service wires and loops
to buildings, shall be attached to any post or tree or other fixture
nor run along any public way or street at a height less than 20 feet
from the ground; and except by written permission from the Inspector
of Wires, no post more than 40 feet above the ground shall be erected
for the support of such wires and lines. Except by written permission
from the Inspector of Wires, all wires from poles to buildings, where
crossing the street, shall be at a height of not less than 20 feet
from the ground.
Persons conducting a telegraph, telephone, electric light or power business may construct and maintain underground conduits for cables and wires, together with manholes and house connections, and erect and maintain distributing poles at the termini of conduits, at suitable distributing points, in such streets, in such manner, of such shape, size and material, and under such regulations as the City Council shall hereafter designate upon application. The application shall be accompanied by a plan showing the exact location of such conduits, manholes and poles. The City Council shall grant a hearing on the application in the manner provided in § 253-6.
Whenever underground conduits have once been laid in the streets
and ways of the City, they shall not be removed, relocated or changed
without permission from the City Council.
No street, way or bridge shall be torn up or disturbed for the
purpose of laying lines, wires or conduits or erecting, altering or
removing posts, poles or other fixtures used for carrying electric
lines or wires without a permit first obtained from the City Council,
indicating the time, manner and place of disturbance and the conditions
under which such is permitted. No street, way or bridge shall be torn
up or disturbed for the purpose of repairing, changing or removing
lines, wires or conduits without a permit in writing first obtained
therefor from the Director of Engineering, Commissioner of Public
Services, Public Works. Whenever any opening or any disturbance is
made in any street, way or bridge, it shall be promptly restored by
the person owning or operating the lines or wires to as good a condition
as it was in before such disturbance or opening, in a manner satisfactory
to the Director of Engineering, Commissioner of Public Services, Public
Works. The portion of a street, way or bridge so opened or disturbed
shall be kept in and maintained in such condition by such person for
one year thereafter, and if not immediately so restored, kept and
maintained, the same may be done by the City at the expense of such
person without previous notice of the intention to do so.
A.
One space
on all poles in public streets or ways shall be reserved for fire
alarm, police signal or other signaling systems belonging to the City,
and used exclusively for municipal purposes.
B.
No line
or wire shall be attached to any pole or post by means of brackets
or other side fixtures except by written permission of the Inspector
of Wires.
C.
On streets
where curbstones are set, all poles shall be erected in the sidewalks
as close as possible to the inside of the curblines, and where there
are no curbstones erected, the curbline must be established before
setting the poles.
D.
No pole
shall be set within 10 feet of any hydrant.
In any underground conduit system, such sufficient and necessary
space as shall be determined by the City Council shall be reserved
free of expense to the City for the use of fire, police and other
telegraph and telephone signal wires belonging to the City, and used
exclusively for municipal purposes. The City, by its Inspector of
Wires and other proper servants, shall be allowed access to the conduits
at all times. The City shall be allowed equal facilities and privileges
with others using the same conduits in putting in, taking out and
repairing wires.
Every person constructing, maintaining or operating a telegraph,
telephone or other electrical line in the City shall execute a bond,
with surety satisfactory to the Mayor, in a penal sum not less than
$10,000, conditioned to indemnify and save harmless the City against
all damage, cost, expense and loss whatsoever to which it may be subjected
in consequence of the negligence of such persons, their agents, officers
and servants in any manner arising from or growing out of the use
and transmission of electricity, the privileges permitted by the City,
and the construction, maintenance, operation and the use of lines,
wires, cables, conduits, posts, poles, structures, constructions,
fixtures and apparatus. The bond shall also be conditioned to fulfill
all agreements with the City, all the lawful orders, conditions and
obligations imposed by the City Council, and all obligations and duties
required by law. A new bond of like import and with new surety may
at any time be required by the City, which new bond shall be a strengthening
bond, unless the surety on former bonds is expressly released from
further liability by vote of the City Council.
No electric light, telephone or telegraph company shall destroy,
cut, trim or mutilate any of the trees located on any of the thoroughfares
or public grounds of the City, except by written permission of the
City Arborist, or allow the insulation to become dangerous or to injure
trees on any of the thoroughfares or public grounds of the City.
No person shall knowingly or wantonly operate or cause to be
operated any machine, device, apparatus or instrument of any kind
whatsoever within the City between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 12:00
midnight, the operation of which shall cause reasonably preventable
electrical interference with television, radio and other communication
circuits reception, within the municipal limits; provided, however,
that X-ray pictures, examinations or treatments may be made at any
time if the machines or apparatus used therefor are properly equipped
to avoid all unnecessary or reasonably preventable interference with
television, radio and other communication circuits reception and are
not negligently operated. This section shall not be held or construed
to embrace or cover the regulation of any transmitting, broadcasting
or receiving instrument, apparatus or device used or useful in interstate
commerce or the operation of which instrument, apparatus or device
is licensed or authorized by or under the provisions of any act of
the Congress of the United States. The Inspector of Wires and his
duly authorized assistants shall have the right to enter upon any
premises at all reasonable hours for the purpose of inspecting the
installation and working of all apparatus coming within the terms
of this section, and it shall be unlawful for any person to interfere
with the Inspector of Wires or his duly authorized assistants in making
such inspection or to refuse to permit him or them to enter the premises
for such purposes.
No person shall set up, install or maintain any outside antenna
system for the purpose of operating television, radio or any other
similar communications equipment without first having obtained therefor
a written permit from the Inspector of Wires.
