The right, privilege and franchise, subject to each and all of the terms and conditions contained in this chapter, and pursuant to the provisions of the Franchise Act of 1937, is hereby granted to Southern Counties Gas Company of California, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of California, herein referred to as the "grantee," to lay and use pipes and appurtenances for transmitting and distributing gas for any and all purposes, under, along, across or upon the streets of the city for an indeterminate term or period from and after the twenty-second day of July, 1954, that is to say, this franchise shall endure in full force and effect until the same shall, with the consent of the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California, be voluntarily surrendered or abandoned by its possessor, or until the State of California or some municipal or public corporation thereunto duly authorized by law shall purchase by voluntary agreement or shall condemn and take under the power of eminent domain all property actually used and useful in the exercise of this franchise and situate within the territorial limits of the state, a municipal or public corporation purchasing or condemning such property, or until this franchise shall be forfeited for noncompliance with its terms by the possessor thereof.
(Code 1960, § 7401)
(a) 
The grantee shall pay to the city at the times hereinafter specified, in lawful money of the United States, a sum annually which shall be 2% of the gross annual receipts of grantee arising from the use, operation or possession of said franchise: Provided, however, that such payments shall in no event be less than a sum which shall be equivalent to 1% of the total gross annual receipts derived by grantee from the sale of gas within the limits of the city under this franchise.
(b) 
The grantee of this franchise shall file with the clerk of the city within three months after the expiration of the calendar year, or fractional calendar year, following the date of the grant of this franchise [June 21, 1954], and within three months after the expiration of each and every calendar year thereafter, a duly verified statement showing in detail the total gross receipts of the grantee, its successors or assigns, during the preceding calendar year, or such fractional calendar year, from the sale of the utility service within the city for which this franchise is granted. It shall be the duty of the grantee to pay to the city within 15 days after the time for filing such statement, in lawful money of the United States, the specified percentage of its gross receipts for the calendar year, or such fractional calendar year, covered by such statement.
(c) 
Any neglect, omission or refusal by said grantee to file such verified statement, or to pay said percentage, at the times or in the manner hereinabove provided, shall be grounds for the declaration of a forfeiture of this franchise and of all rights hereunder.
(Code 1960, § 7402)
This grant is made in lieu of all other franchises, rights or privileges owned by the grantee, or by any successor of the grantee to any rights under this franchise, for transmitting and distributing gas within the limits of the city, as said limits now or may hereafter exist, and the acceptance of the franchise hereby granted shall operate as an abandonment of all such franchises, rights and privileges within the limits of the city, as such limits now or may hereafter exist, in lieu of which this franchise is granted. This grant, however, shall not deprive the city of any or all payments that it is entitled to receive up to the effective date of the granting of the franchise by reason of any other franchise, rights or privileges that may have been owned by the grantee.
(Code 1960, § 7403)
(a) 
The franchise granted hereunder shall not become effective until written acceptance thereof shall have been filed by the grantee thereof with the clerk of the city. When so filed, such acceptance shall constitute a continuing agreement of the grantee that if and when the city shall thereafter annex or consolidate with additional territory, any and all franchise rights and privileges owned by the grantee therein shall likewise be deemed to be abandoned within the limits of such territory.
(b) 
Within 10 days after the passage and publication of Ordinance No. 49, the grantee shall file with the city clerk a written acceptance of the franchise herein granted, and an agreement to comply with the terms and conditions hereof.
(Code 1960, § 7404)
The franchise granted hereunder shall not in any way or to any extent impair or affect the right of the city to acquire the property of the grantee hereof either by purchase or through the exercise of the right of eminent domain, and nothing herein contained shall be construed to contract away or to modify or abridge, either for a term or in perpetuity, the city's right of eminent domain in respect to the grantee or any public utility. Nor shall this franchise ever be given any value before any court or other public authority in any proceeding of any character in excess of the cost to the grantee of the necessary publication and any other sum paid by it to the city therefor at the time of the acquisition thereof.
(Code 1960, § 7405)
The grantee of this franchise shall file a bond, running to the city, with at least two good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the legislative body thereof, in a penal sum of $1,000, conditioned that the grantee shall well and truly observe, fulfill and perform each and every term and condition of this franchise, and that in case of any breach of condition of said bond, the whole amount of the penal sum therein named shall be taken and deemed to be liquidated damages and shall be recoverable from the principal and sureties upon said bond. Said bond shall be filed with the legislative body of the city within five days after the date of the granting of this franchise; and in case said bond shall not be so filed, or shall not receive the approval of the legislative body, this franchise shall be forfeited and any money paid in connection therewith shall likewise be forfeited.
(Code 1960, § 7406)
The grantee of this franchise shall:
(a) 
Construct, install and maintain all pipes and appurtenances in accordance with and in conformity with all of the ordinances, rules and regulations heretofore and hereafter adopted by the legislative body of this city in the exercise of its police powers and not in conflict with the paramount authority of the State of California; and, as to state highways, subject to the provisions of general laws relating to the location and maintenance of such facilities; pipelines shall be designed in accordance with the American Standard Code for Pressure Piping, section 2—Gas and Air Piping.
(b) 
Pay to the city, on demand, the cost of all repairs to public property made necessary by any operations of the grantee under this franchise.
(c) 
Indemnify and hold harmless the city and its officers from any and all liability for damages proximately resulting from any operations under this franchise.
(d) 
In the event that during the term of this franchise, the city shall change any grade, width or location of any street, or improve any street in any manner, or lay any sewer, storm drain, conduit or pipe, or construct any subway, viaduct, pedestrian tunnel, or any other lawful public work of a governmental character, or lay any water main or pipe, and such work shall render necessary any change in position or location of any facilities or equipment of the grantee in the street, including the support thereof while such work is being done or performed, the grantee, at its own cost and expense, within 30 days after written notice from the city engineer and request so to do, shall begin the work of doing any and all things to effect such change, position or location in conformity with such written instructions.
If the grantee shall sustain any loss, injury or damage by reason of the doing of any of the hereinabove mentioned public works, and, if said work shall be done in a reasonable manner and without negligence on the part of the city and/or officer, board, commission or department thereof, then the grantee shall have no recourse whatever against the city and/or any office, board, commission or department thereof on account of such loss, injury or damage.
The foregoing provision requiring the grantee to pay the cost of removal or relocation of its franchise properties shall not apply when the removal or relocation of the franchise properties is required in order to accommodate freeways, and grantee shall be entitled to avail itself of the rights afforded to it by Sections 700 through 711 of the Streets and Highways Code of the State of California, except as changed or modified by the provisions of any agreement between the grantee and the State of California or any agency thereof. However, the cost of removal or relocation of the franchise properties when required in order to accommodate freeways shall be done and accomplished without expense to the city.
(e) 
File with the legislative body of the city within 30 days after any sale, transfer, assignment or lease of this franchise, or any part thereof, or of any of the rights or privileges granted thereby, written evidence of the same, certified thereto by the grantee or its duly authorized officers.
(Code 1960, § 7407)
(a) 
The grantee shall have the right, subject to the provisions of this franchise and existing or future city regulations, to make all necessary excavations in the streets for the laying and using of franchise properties. This franchise shall not relieve the grantee from the provisions of any ordinance or law that may be in force at the time, requiring permits to be obtained for street excavations before such work can be done. All excavations shall be made and refilled in strict compliance with the city ordinances that may be in force at the time of the performance of the work. The grantee shall make such deposit of money or shall file such bonds with the city engineer as may from time to time be required from persons making street excavations. All excavations shall be so made as not to interfere unreasonably with the free use of the streets by the public except such temporary interference as may be authorized by the city engineer. Any damage or injury suffered by any person by reason of any excavations being improperly guarded during such work shall be borne by the grantee.
(b) 
Upon completion of the work, all portions of the streets which have been excavated or otherwise injured thereby shall be placed in as good condition as before start of work, to the satisfaction of the city engineer, and in the manner prescribed by ordinance.
(Code 1960, § 7408)
The city engineer shall have power to give the grantee such directions for the location of any pipes and appurtenances as may be reasonably necessary to avoid sewers, water pipes, conduits or other structures lawfully in or under the streets; and before the work of constructing any pipes and appurtenances is commenced, the grantee shall file with said engineer, plans showing the location thereof, which shall be subject to the approval of said engineer (such approval not to be unreasonably withheld); and all such construction shall be subject to the inspection of said engineer and done to his reasonable satisfaction. All street coverings or openings of traps, vaults and manholes shall at all times be kept flush with the surface of the streets; provided, however, that vents for underground traps, vaults and manholes may extend above the surface of streets when said vents are located in parkways, between the curb and the property line. Where it is necessary to lay any underground pipes through, under or across any portion of a paved or macadamized street, the same, where practicable and economically reasonable, shall be done by a tunnel or bore, so as not to disturb the foundation of such paved or macadamized street; and in the event that the same cannot be so done, such work shall be done under a permit to be granted by the engineer upon application therefor.
(Code 1960, § 7409)
If any portion of any street shall be damaged by reason of defects in any of the pipe and appurtenances maintained or constructed under this grant, or by reason of any other cause arising from the operation or existence of any pipes and appurtenances constructed or maintained under this grant, said grantee shall at its own cost and expense, immediately repair any such damage and restore such street, or portion of street, to as good a condition as existed before such defect or other cause of damage occurred, such work to be done under the direction of the city engineer, and to his reasonable satisfaction.
(Code 1960, § 7410)
(a) 
If the grantee of this franchise shall fail, neglect or refuse to comply with any of the provisions or conditions hereof, and shall not, within 10 days after written demand for compliance, begin the work of compliance, or after such beginning shall not prosecute the same with due diligence to completion, then the city, by its legislative body, may declare this franchise forfeited.
(b) 
The city may sue in its own name for the forfeiture of this franchise in the event of noncompliance by the grantee, its successors or assigns, with any of the conditions thereof.
(Code 1960, § 7411)