Whenever in this chapter the words or phrases hereinafter in this section defined are used, they shall have the respective meanings assigned to them in the following definitions, unless the context requires a different meaning:
(a) 
"Commission"
means the Public Utilities Commission of the state of California.
(b) 
"Underground utility district" or "district"
means that area in the city within which poles, overhead wires, and associated overhead structures are prohibited as such area is described in a resolution adopted pursuant to the provisions of Section 5.24.040 of this chapter.
(c) 
"Person"
means and includes individuals, firms, corporations, partnerships, and their agents and employees.
(d) 
"Poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures"
means poles, towers, supports, wires, conductors, guys, stubs, platforms, cross-arms, braces, transformers, insulators, cutouts, switches, communication circuits, appliances, attachments and appurtenances located aboveground within a district and used or useful in supplying electric, communication or similar or associated service.
(e) 
"Utility"
includes all persons or entities supplying electric, communication or similar or associated service by means of electrical materials or devices.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1670 § 1, 11-12-1985)
The council may from time to time call public hearings to establish underground utility districts. Said underground utility districts are to be established whenever the council determines that the public necessity, health, safety or welfare requires the removal of poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures within designated areas of the city. The underground installation of wires and facilities for supplying electric, communication, or similar or associated service shall be provided pursuant to the utility's applicable rules and regulations on file with the Public Utilities Commission. The council shall also, by resolution, make one or more of the following findings:
(a) 
That such undergrounding will avoid or eliminate an unusually heavy concentration of aerial facilities;
(b) 
The street or road right-of-way is extensively used by the general public and carries a heavy volume of pedestrian or vehicular traffic;
(c) 
The street or road right-of-way adjoins or passes through a civic area of unusual scenic interest to the general public.
The council may, at its discretion, not require that certain lines within or crossing said underground utility districts be undergrounded, except that overhead transmission and distribution facilities must be undergrounded. The city clerk shall notify all affected property owners as shown on the last equalized assessment roll and utilities concerned by mail of the time and place of such hearings at least ten days prior to the date thereof. Each such hearing shall be open to the public and may be continued from time to time. At each such hearing, all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard. The decision of the council shall be final and conclusive.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1322 § 1, 5-9-1977; Ord. 1670 § 2, 11-12-1985)
(a) 
In a proceeding for a conversion, the city and any public utility or public agency supplying electric or communication service within the city, by agreement, may provide that, upon confirmation of the assessment, the public utility or public agency shall have legal title to the electric or communication facilities, which shall thereafter constitute part of a system of the public utility or public agency and be used, operated, maintained and managed by it as part of its system.
Subject to any rules, regulations or tariffs applicable to any public utility or public agency, the agreement also may provide, among other things, for any of the following: the supplying or approval by the public utility or public agency of plans and specifications; a contribution of labor, materials, or money by the public utility or public agency; the performance by the public utility or public agency of all, or any part, of the work or improvement; and payment to the public utility or public agency for any work or improvement performed or service rendered by it.
Any agreement shall be made prior to the adoption of the resolution ordering the work. If the proceedings are abandoned, the agreement shall be given no further force or effect. To the extent that the agreement provides that all, or any part, of the work or improvement is to be performed by the public utility or public agency, the provisions of this division requiring competitive bidding and the award of the contract to the lowest responsible bidder shall be inapplicable.
Nothing in this chapter precludes the city of the public utility, in the event of disagreement regarding any provision of the proposed agreement, from seeking review of the disagreement by the public utilities commission.
(b) 
If the work or improvement consists solely of a conversion, and the work or improvement is performed by a public utility or public agency, the resolution of intention shall provide that (1) the warrant, assessment and diagram; or (2) any bonds issued to represent unpaid assessments; or both (1) and (2), shall be sold as the legislative body directs. The purchaser, and any successors, shall have the same rights and liens as the contractor to collect and enforce the assessments and all bonds issued to represent unpaid assessments. If the work and improvement consists, in part, of a conversion and, in part, of other types of work or improvement under this division, the legislative body may provide, in the resolution of intention, that the costs and expenses of conversion is part of the incidental expenses to be advanced to the city by the contractor and to be included in the assessment. Any payments made upon assessments, any proceeds from the sale of the warrant, assessment, and diagram or bonds, and any incidental expenses so advanced to the city may be used by the city for the purpose of making payments to a public utility or public agency pursuant to an agreement made under Section 5896.9.
(Ord. 2011 § 1 Exh. A (part), 8-27-1996)
If the city furnishes electric or communication service by means of electric or communication facilities owned or operated by the city, the legislative body, in the resolution ordering work, may provide that the work or improvement of conversion shall be performed for the price or prices specified in the resolution by the city or any department, agency, commission or officer of the city having the duty of furnishing the service. To that extent, the provisions of Part 1 (commencing with Section 1100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code requiring competitive bidding and the award of the contract to the lowest responsible bidder shall be inapplicable.
(Ord. 2011 § 1 Exh. A (part), 8-27-1996)
Prior to holding such public hearing, the city engineer shall consult all affected utilities and shall prepare a report for submission at such hearing containing, among other information, the extent of such utilities' participation and estimates of the total costs to the city and affected property owners. Such report shall also contain an estimate of the time required to complete such underground installation and removal of overhead facilities.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968)
If, after any such public hearing, the council finds that the public necessity, health, safety or welfare requires such removal and such underground installation within a designated area, the council shall, by resolution, declare such designated area and underground utility district and order such removal and underground installation. Such resolution shall include a description of the area comprising such district and shall fix the time within which such removal and underground installation shall be accomplished and within which affected property owners must be ready to receive underground service. A reasonable time shall be allowed for such removal and underground installation, having due regard for the availability of labor, materials and equipment necessary for such removal and for the installation of such underground facilities as may be occasioned thereby.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968)
Whenever the council creates an underground utility district and orders the removal of poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures therein as provided in Section 5.24.040 hereof, it shall be unlawful for any person or utility to erect, construct, place, keep, maintain, continue, employ or operate poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures in the district after the date when said overhead facilities are required to be removed by such resolution, except as said overhead facilities may be required to furnish service to an owner or occupant of property prior to the performance by such owner or occupant of the underground work necessary for such owner or occupant to continue to receive utility service as provided in Section 5.24.100 hereof, and for such reasonable time required to remove the facilities after said work has been performed, and except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968)
Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, overhead facilities may be installed and maintained for a period, not to exceed ten days, without authority of the council in order to provide emergency service. The director of public works may grant special permission on such terms as the director of public works may deem appropriate, in cases of unusual circumstances, without discrimination as to any person or utility, to erect, construct, install, maintain, use or operate poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures for any reasonable length of time.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1670 § 3, 11-12-1985)
This chapter and any resolution adopted pursuant to Section 5.24.040 hereof shall, unless otherwise provided in such resolution, not apply to the following types of facilities.
(a) 
Any municipal facilities or equipment installed under the supervision and to the satisfaction of the city engineer;
(b) 
Poles, or electroliers used exclusively for street lighting;
(c) 
Overhead wires (exclusive of supporting structures) crossing any portion of a district within which overhead wires have been prohibited, or connecting to buildings on the perimeter of a district when such wires originate in an area from which poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures are not prohibited;
(d) 
Overhead wires attached to the exterior surface of a building by means of a bracket or other fixture and extending from one location on the building to another location on the same building or to an adjacent building without crossing any public street;
(e) 
Antennae, associated equipment and supporting structures, used by a utility for furnishing communication services;
(f) 
Equipment appurtenant to underground facilities. such as surface-mounted transformers, pedestal-mounted terminal boxes and meter cabinets, and concealed ducts;
(g) 
Temporary poles, overhead wires and associated overhead structures used or to be used in conjunction with construction projects.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1322 §§ 2, 3, 5-9-1977)
Within ten days after the effective date of a resolution adopted pursuant to Section 5.24.040 hereof, the city clerk shall notify all affected utilities and all persons owning real property within the district created by said resolution of the adoption thereof. The city clerk shall further notify such affected property owners of the necessity that, if they or any person occupying such property desire to continue to receive electric, communication, or similar or associated service, they or such occupant shall permit all necessary facility changes on their premises so as to receive such service from the lines of the supplying utility or utilities at a new location, subject to applicable rules, regulation, and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the commission.
Notification by the city clerk shall be made by mailing a copy of the resolution adopted pursuant to Section 5.24.040, together with a copy of this chapter, to affected property owners as such are shown on the last equalized assessment roll and to the affected utilities.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1670 § 4, 11-12-1985)
If underground construction is necessary to provide utility or cable television service within a district created by any resolution adopted pursuant to Section 5.24.040 hereof, the supplying utility or cable television company shall furnish that portion of the conduits, conductors and associated equipment required to be furnished by it under its applicable rules, regulations and tariffs on file with the commission that shall include conduits, conductors and associated equipment necessary to extend the underground service to the property owner's meter or the first one hundred feet of that distance, whichever is less. Wherever possible, the cable television facilities shall share the trenches with the power and/or telephone lines.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1670 § 5, 11-12-1985)
(a) 
Every person owning, operating, leasing, occupying or renting a building or structure within a district shall permit the construction of that portion of the service connection on his property between the facilities referred to in Section 5.24.090 and the termination facility on or within said building or structure being served "all in accordance with the applicable rules, regulations and tariffs of the respective utility or utilities on file with the commission."
(b) 
In the event any person owning, operating, leasing, occupying or renting said property does not comply with the provisions of subparagraph (a) of this Section 5.24.100 within the time provided for in the resolution enacted pursuant to Section 5.24.090 hereof, the city engineer shall post written notice on the property being served and thirty days thereafter may authorize the disconnection and removal of any and all overhead service wires and associated facilities supplying utility service to the property.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1670 § 6, 11-12-1985)
The city shall remove at its own expense all city-owned equipment from all poles required to be removed hereunder in ample time to enable the owner or user of such poles to remove the same within the time specified in the resolution enacted pursuant to Section 5.24.040 hereof. The city will reimburse out of any eligible fund other than the general fund the utility and cable television companies for any costs incurred in the conversion beyond that which is eligible under the applicable rules, regulations and tariffs on file with the commission.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 1670 § 7, 11-12-1985)
In the event that any act required by this chapter or by a resolution adopted pursuant to Section 5.24.040 hereof cannot be performed within the time provided on account of shortage of materials, war, restraint by public authorities, strikes, labor disturbances, civil disobedience, or any other circumstances beyond the control of the actor, then the time within which such act will be accomplished shall be extended for a period equivalent to the time of such limitation.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968)
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this chapter. Any person violating any provisions of this chapter or failing to comply with any of its requirements shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment in the city jail, or in the county jail of the county of Los Angeles, California, as the committing magistrate may direct for a period of not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Each such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each day during any portion of which any violation of any of the provisions of this chapter is committed, continued or permitted by such person, and shall be punishable therefor as provided for in this chapter.
(Ord. 1079 § 1 (part), 8-26-1968; Ord. 2011 § 1 Exh. A (part), 8-27-1996)