[R.O. 2012 §655.090; Ord. No. 98-1-8 §1, 1-26-1998; Ord. No. 18-08-01, 8-6-2018]
A. 
Grant Of Authority And Use Of Public Property. The scope of authority granted to an operator to use streets and other public property shall be established in a franchise agreement.
B. 
Compliance With Zoning And Construction Codes. An operator shall comply with the terms of all applicable zoning ordinances, building codes, and other regulations, now or hereafter existing, controlling the location or construction of towers, antennas, poles, cables, amplifiers, conduits and other facilities owned, leased and otherwise used by the operator for a communications facility, including but not limited to requirements to obtain applicable permits and to pay applicable plan review, permit and/or inspection fees. Collocation of small wireless facilities, including installation, maintenance, modification, operation and replacement of utility poles on right-of-way is not subject to zoning review and approval except the placement of new or modified utility poles in areas zoned as single-family residential districts or historic preservation districts as of August 28, 2018.
C. 
Franchise Non-Exclusive. An operator's right to use and occupy streets and other public property shall not be exclusive.
D. 
Placement Of Facilities.
1. 
All transmissions and distribution structures, lines and communication facilities erected by an operator within the City shall be so located as to cause minimum interference with the proper use of streets and other public property and to cause minimum interference with the rights and reasonable convenience of property owners who join any of said streets and/or public property.
2. 
The City has the right to regulate the erection, construction and/or installation or collocation of any and all facilities by an operator lying in, under and/or over any public property, including but not limited to the right to require permits prior to construction and maps showing where construction or excavation is planned. The City may designate where an operator may place a communications facility within the streets and other public property. The City may require a small wireless facility to comply with reasonable, objective, and cost-effective concealment or safety requirements determined by the City after review of plans submitted by the operator.
3. 
Each new, replacement, or modified utility pole installed in the right-of-way shall not exceed the greater of ten (10) feet in height above the tallest existing utility pole in place as of January 1, 2019, located within five hundred (500) feet of the new pole in the same right-of-way, or fifty (50) feet above ground level.
4. 
New small wireless facilities in the right-of-way shall not extend more than ten (10) feet above an existing utility pole in place as of August 28, 2018, or for small wireless facilities on a new utility pole, above the height permitted for a new utility pole under this Section.
5. 
A wireless provider may replace decorative poles when necessary to collocate a small wireless facility, but any replacement pole shall reasonably conform to the design aesthetics of the decorative pole or poles being replaced.
6. 
Installation or collocation shall be completed within one (1) year after the permit issuance date unless the City and the applicant agree to extend this period.
E. 
Relocation For Public Improvements.
1. 
Request Of The City. Whenever because of public necessity or the welfare of the public generally, the City elects to change or alter the grade of any street or to sell or vacate any street or to construct or reconstruct any water lines, sanitary or storm sewers, watercourses, drainage ditches, conduits, playgrounds, traffic control devices or to make, remove, maintain, repair or replace any other public improvements, an operator shall, temporarily or permanently, as the case may be, after thirty (30) days written request from the City, but in cases of emergency immediately, raise, lower, remove, relay and/or relocate its poles, wires, cables, conduits and/or other fixtures and equipment as requested, all at operator's sole expense.
2. 
Requests Of Private Parties. Whenever an operator is requested to raise, lower, remove, relay and/or relocate the operator's poles, wires, cables, conduits and/or other fixtures and equipment by a private party, an operator shall not unreasonably refuse to raise, lower, remove, relay and/or relocate those facilities. The private party requesting the change shall bear the reasonable cost of raising, lowering, removing, relocating and/or relaying the operator's facilities. An operator may require the payment of a reasonable predetermined cost for the requested action prior to commencing work.
[R.O. 2012 §655.100; Ord. No. 98-1-8 §1, 1-26-1998; Ord. No. 18-08-01, 8-6-2018]
A. 
General Construction Practices. All construction practices shall be in accordance with all applicable Federal, State and local laws, rules or regulations. All installation of electronic equipment shall be of a permanent nature and durable. All electronic equipment installed after the date hereof shall be installed in accordance with the applicable provisions of the City's Building, all other Codes, and the specifications for construction within City Right-of-Way and Procedure for Permit Application for New Construction in City Right-of-Way.
B. 
Towers And Antennas. Antenna supporting structures (towers) and antennas shall be designed, painted, lighted, erected and maintained in accordance with all applicable rules and regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration and all other applicable Federal, State and local laws, rules and regulations. Each small wireless facility provider's antenna must fit within an enclosure of no more than six (6) cubic feet in volume. All other equipment associated with the small wireless facility, whether ground or pole mounted, shall be no more than twenty-eight (28) cubic feet in volume cumulatively, provided that no single piece of equipment on the utility pole shall exceed nine (9) cubic feet in volume; and no single piece of ground mounted equipment shall exceed fifteen (15) cubic feet in volume, exclusive of equipment required by an electric utility or municipal electric utility to power the small wireless facility.
C. 
General Operational Practices. The construction, operation and maintenance of an operator's cable communications system, including but not limited to the antenna site, head end and distribution system, towers, house connections, structures, poles, wire, cable, coaxial cable, fixtures and practices, shall be performed by experienced maintenance and construction personnel. An operator's cable communications system shall be kept in a safe and suitable condition and in good order and repair, so as not to endanger or interfere with improvements the City may deem necessary, or to interfere in any manner with the rights of any property owner, or to unnecessarily hinder or obstruct pedestrian or vehicular traffic on streets or other public property.
D. 
Safety. An operator shall at all times employ the standards of care attendant to the risks involved and shall install and maintain in use commonly accepted methods and devices for preventing failure and accidents which are likely to cause damage, injury or nuisance to the general public, including public employees.
E. 
Rf Leakage. An operator shall perform Rf leakage monitoring and testing in accordance with FCC rules and regulations. An operator shall have the right to discontinue its service to any subscriber's premises where uncontrollable Rf radiation is originating from inside the premises; provided that if operator desires to discontinue service, operator shall provide written notice of discontinuance of service and specific information relating to the reason therefor to the subscriber.
F. 
Undergrounding. In all areas of the City where the cables, wires and other facilities of public utilities exist underground, or are required by the City to be placed underground, an operator shall also place its cables, wires and other facilities underground.
G. 
Pole Attachments. An operator shall not construct, erect, maintain or own any poles within the City unless prior written approval is obtained from the City; such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld upon a showing of need by an operator provided operator has complied with all applicable laws, regulations and ordinances relating thereto. In all areas of the City where the cables, wires and other facilities of an operator are attached to any City-owned utility poles, an operator may maintain those attachments subject to the terms and conditions of its franchise agreement with the City.
H. 
Disturbances. In the case of any disturbance of a street, other public property or any private property caused by an operator for any reason, including during the course of constructing, maintaining, upgrading and removing its communications facility, an operator shall, at its own expense, replace and restore all paving, sidewalk, driveway, landscaping, surface or other property of any such property disturbed in as good condition as before the disturbance as is possible to the reasonable satisfaction of the City.
I. 
Authority To Trim Trees. An operator shall have authority, upon prior written notice to the City (except in the case of emergency), to trim trees and shrubbery upon and overhanging streets and other public property so as to prevent the branches and foliage of such trees and shrubbery from coming in contact and interfering with the wires, cables and other facilities of an operator. All trimming shall be done at the expense of the operator, and the City reserves the right but assumes no obligation to supervise such trimming.
J. 
Relocation Of Facilities. An operator shall, upon the request of any applicant for a building moving permit to be issued by the City, temporarily raise, lower, relay, relocate or remove its wires, cables and other facilities to accommodate the moving of the building, as the operator shall determine. The reasonable expense of the temporary raising or lowering, relaying, relocation or removal of the operator's facilities shall be paid by the person requesting the change, and the operator shall have the authority to establish the reasonable cost of such changes and require payment in advance. The operator shall be given no less than seven (7) days' advance notice to arrange for temporary changes.
K. 
Performance Guidelines. The following performance guidelines shall serve as the initial minimum guidelines for the design, installation and operation of an operator's system:
1. 
Continuous Operation. The system shall be capable of continuous twenty-four (24) hour daily operation without severe material degradation of signal except during extremely inclement weather, and immediately following extraordinary storms which adversely affect utility services or which damage major system components.
2. 
Variable For Operation. The system shall be capable of operating over an outdoor temperature range of minus twenty degrees Fahrenheit (-20°F) to plus one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit (120°F) and over variation in supply voltages from one hundred five (105) to one hundred thirty (130) volts AC, without catastrophic failure or irreversible performance changes.
3. 
Specifications. A cable television system shall have a minimum capacity of three hundred (300) Mhz, and a minimum of thirty-four (34) channels of entertainment and information. The system shall be capable of meeting all specifications over an outdoor temperature range of zero degrees Fahrenheit (0°F) to plus one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (100°F) and over variation in supply voltages from one hundred five (105) to one hundred thirty (130) volts AC.
4. 
Lack Of Interference. The system shall be operated in such a manner as to avoid causing interference with the reception of off-the-air signals of a subscriber.
5. 
Picture And Sound Quality. A cable television system shall be capable of producing a picture on each subscriber's television screen in black and white or color, depending upon whether color is being telecast and provided the subscriber's television set is capable of producing a color picture, that is materially undistorted and materially free from ghost images other than those resulting from ingress which can normally be expected from off-the-air signals, without material degradation of color fidelity. The system shall produce sound that is materially undistorted on any properly functioning receiver of a subscriber.
6. 
FCC Technical Standards. Should the FCC promulgate technical standards which exceed the performance guidelines contained in the Cable and Wireless Communications Code, an operator shall operate its system so that it meets or exceeds FCC standards.
L. 
Equipment For Hearing-Impaired Persons. An operator of a cable communications system shall inform subscribers, upon request, where they may obtain equipment which facilitate the reception of cable service by hearing-impaired individuals, where such properly encoded programming exists. If that equipment is not available from other sources, an operator shall make that equipment available for subscribers for reasonable installation and rental charges.
M. 
Performance Standards.
1. 
Compliance With Technical Standards. All communications systems shall be designed and installed to operate according to the technical standards and all applicable rules and regulations of the FCC, including all future amendments or standards required by the FCC.
2. 
Report Of Compliance. Upon request, an operator shall provide to the City a copy of its proof of performance test records that are maintained in accordance with the rules of the FCC.
N. 
Test Procedures. An operator's methods and schedules for testing its system on an ongoing basis shall be at least as stringent as those in other high-quality, reliable, communications systems of similar design. A summary of all ongoing tests shall be provided by the operator for the City's review, upon the City's request. When a subscriber has complained to an operator directly, or through the City, about the technical quality of the service received by the subscriber, and that complaint remains unresolved for thirty (30) days, the City may request the performance by the operator, at the operator's cost, of reasonable tests in addition to those tests performed by the operator, at the operator's cost, of reasonable tests in addition to those tests performed by the operator as part of its ongoing testing program, to measure the technical quality of the system in the area of the complaint. Tests performed by the operator in an effort to resolve the subscriber complaint need not be duplicated by the operator.
O. 
Emergencies.
1. 
Emergency Services. Subject to applicable law, an operator of a cable communications system shall incorporate into its system the capability to permit the City, in times of emergency, to override the audio portion of all cable service channels simultaneously. The operator shall cooperate with the City in the use and operation of the emergency alert override system.
2. 
Emergency Use Of The Facilities. If an emergency or disaster occurs, each operator shall, upon request of the City, make available at no cost its facilities to the City for emergency use during the period of such emergency or disaster and shall provide such personnel as necessary to operate properly under the circumstances. In emergency situations not common to the Greater Kansas City area, the City will be given reasonable opportunity to communicate said emergencies to residents.
P. 
Line Extension Policy. An operator of a cable communications system shall not be required to service residents of areas of the City that are beyond four hundred (400) feet from existing distribution lines unless and until:
1. 
The area has at least twenty (20) homes per street mile; or
2. 
Payment by such residents of the capital costs incurred by operator in bringing service to such residents.
Such extensions, whenever possible, shall be made simultaneously with installation of utility lines.
Q. 
Interconnection. Provided there is no decrease in the technical quality of service provided to subscribers in the City and such interconnection has no effect on the City's right under the Cable and Wireless Communications Code or any franchise agreement, a cable communications system may be interconnected with other cable communications systems of the operator or other operators.