Any person, firm or corporation furnishing the City or its inhabitants
with transportation, communication, terminal facilities, water, light,
heat, electricity, gas, power, television, refrigeration, storage
or any other public utility or service, or using the public streets,
ways, alleys or for the operation of plants works or equipment for
the furnishing thereof, or traversing any portion of the City for
the transmitting or conveying of any such service elsewhere, may be
required by ordinance to have a valid and existing franchise therefor.
The city council is empowered to grant such franchise to any person,
firm or corporation, whether operating under an existing franchise
or not, and to prescribe the terms and conditions of any such grant.
It may also provide, by procedural ordinance, the method of procedure
and additional terms and conditions of any such grant or the making
thereof, all subject to the provisions of this charter.
Nothing in this section, or elsewhere in this article, shall
apply to the City, or to any department thereof, when furnishing any
such utility or service.
Unless otherwise provided by ordinance of the city council,
before granting any franchise, the city council shall pass a resolution
declaring its intention to grant the same, stating the name of the
proposed grantee, the character of the franchise and the terms and
conditions upon which it is proposed to be granted. Such resolution
shall fix and set forth the day, hour and place when and where any
persons having any interest therein or any objection to the granting
thereof may appear before the city council and be heard thereon. It
shall direct the city clerk to publish said resolution at least once,
within fifteen days of the passage thereof, in a newspaper of general
circulation in the City. Said notice shall be published at least ten
days prior to the date of hearing.
At the time set for the hearing the city council shall proceed
to hear and pass upon all protests and its decision thereon shall
be final and conclusive. Thereafter it may by ordinance grant the
franchise on the terms and conditions specified in the resolution
of intention to grant the same, subject to the right of referendum
of the people, or it may deny the same. If the city council shall
determine that changes should be made in the terms and conditions
upon which the franchise is proposed to be granted, a new resolution
of intention shall be adopted and like proceedings had thereon. In
connection with granting any franchise, city council may set and collect
any franchise fee it deems reasonable, so long as such fee is not
arbitrary or confiscatory.
Every franchise shall state the term for which it is granted,
which shall not exceed fifteen years. Any franchise agreement entered
into by the city and effective on the effective date of this Charter,
whose term extends beyond twenty years after the effective date of
this Charter, shall continue in effect for a period of fifteen years
beyond the effective date of the Charter, and no further, provided
that any franchisee whose franchise is in effect on the effective
date of this Chapter may seek an extension of the franchise from city
council beyond the fifteen year limit, which city council may grant
if it finds the fifteen year limit would impair the franchisee's ability
to realize a reasonable return on investment of funds invested prior
to the effective date of this Charter, in reliance on the franchise.
City council may promulgate rules and regulations for the making and
consideration of applications for such extensions of franchises.
No franchise requirement of the City shall apply to the City,
nor any subdivision, department, or division thereof.
No franchise grant shall in any way, or to any extent, impair
or affect the right of the City to acquire the property of the grantee
thereof either by purchase or through the exercise of the right of
eminent domain, and nothing therein contained shall be construed to
contract away or to modify or to abridge, either for a term or in
perpetuity, the City's right of eminent domain with respect to any
public or private utility. In such a proceeding, no value shall be
assigned to the franchise rights themselves, but only to any fixtures
or equipment, or other interests arising out of the exercise of the
franchise rights, as may be compensable under the general laws of
the State of California.