§ 118-87. Use of public ways.

(a)

Underground Installation.

(1)

Franchisee's cable, wires, fiber and other equipment shall be placed underground wherever other existing utilities are underground. If the County in the future so requires, for all or any portion of the County, that the utilities in such area place their lines underground, then franchisee shall in a reasonable period of time place its existing and its future cable, fiber, wires, or other equipment in such area underground without charge, expense or liability therefor to the County. Franchisee, may, however, recover the cost in its charges to customers per applicable Federal regulation.

(2)

Where not otherwise required to be placed underground by the franchise agreement or this article, franchisee's cable system shall be located underground at the request of the adjacent property owner, provided that the excess cost over the aerial location shall be borne by the property owner making the request.

(3)

Whenever franchisee must place the cable system or other facilities beneath the traveled or paved portion of the public ways, unless otherwise approved in advance by the cable coordinator, franchisee shall do so by directional boring and not by excavation of a trench in which to place cable conduit. Directional boring shall be done wherever possible so that the excavations necessary for it are not in the paved portion of the public ways.

(b)

Pedestals. The placement of pedestals housing mini-hubs, switching or other equipment in the public ways requires an appropriate permit from the County. Any buried equipment shall be shown in plan and cross section on the design plans for permits.

(c)

Permits. Prior to construction or alteration, franchisee shall, in each case, file plans with the appropriate County agencies, complete use agreements with the utility companies, and obtain all construction permits.

(d)

Notice of new construction to County. Throughout any period of new construction or rebuild, within a franchisee's respective franchise area, franchisee shall give the cable coordinator written notice, a reasonable time before the commencement of new construction or rebuild, but in no event shall said notice be given less than seven business days before such commencement. Franchisee shall give the cable coordinator a monthly schedule of construction or rebuild areas and planned street disturbances within its franchise area.

(e)

Notice of construction to residents. Franchisee shall provide advance notice, appropriate to the circumstances, prior to entry, whenever desiring to enter or cross any private property within its franchise area or work in abutting public ways. By way of example, franchisee shall provide at least four days' advance notice to affected property owners within its franchise area (such as by door hanger) prior to construction or rebuild requiring entry on private property or work in public ways abutting such private property. During maintenance work, installation work, and outage repair, franchisee shall attempt to notify affected residences (such as by knocking and, if no answer, leaving a door hanger) prior to entering private property. Work performed in an emergency in easements or public ways to repair the cable system is exempted from this section.

(f)

Interference with persons, improvements, public and private property and utilities. Franchisee's cable system and system facilities, including poles, lines, equipment and all appurtenances, shall be located, erected and maintained so that such facilities shall:

(1)

Not endanger or interfere with the health, safety or lives of persons;

(2)

Not interfere with any improvements the County or State may deem proper to make;

(3)

Not interfere with the free and proper use of public streets, alleys, bridges, easements or other public ways, places or property, except to the minimum extent necessary during actual construction or repair;

(4)

Not obstruct, hinder or interfere with any gas, electric, water or telephone facilities or other utilities located within the County.

(g)

Restoration to prior condition. Franchisee shall restore at its sole cost and expense, within ten working days, or such additional time as specified by the cable coordinator, in accordance with County ordinances, rules and regulations, any portion of the public ways that is in any way disturbed by the construction, operation, maintenance or repair of the cable system to as good or better condition than existed previously. In addition, franchisee shall, at its sole cost and expense, restore and replace any other property, real or personal, disturbed, damaged or in any way injured by or on account of franchisee or by its acts or omissions, to the same condition as such property was in immediately prior to the disturbance, damage or injury. In the event that franchisee and its contractors and subcontractors fail to make such repair within the time specified by the cable coordinator, the County shall be entitled to make repairs or have such repairs made and franchisee shall pay the costs of the County for such repair.

(h)

Temporary relocation. Upon ten business days' notice, franchisee shall either temporarily raise or lower its wires, fiber, cable or other equipment upon the request of any person, including, without limitation, a person holding a building moving permit issued by the County. Franchisee may charge a reasonable rate for this service with an advance deposit of the estimated cost.

(i)

Tree trimming.

(1)

Franchisee may trim trees upon and overhanging the public ways so as to prevent the branches of such trees from coming into contact with the cable system. Franchisee shall dispose of all trimmed materials. No trimming shall be performed in the public ways without prior approval from the County. Except in emergencies, all trimming of trees on public property shall have the advance approval of the County and all trimming of trees on private property shall require notice to and approval from the property owner.

(2)

All tree/root trimming or pruning provided herewith shall be done pursuant to applicable County ordinances, rules and regulations.

(3)

Franchisee shall give appropriate notice to the County and Residents within a reasonable time of proposed tree/root trimming and pruning, but in no event shall such notice be given less than seven days before such commencement.

(j)

Public property. In addition to other requirements herein, franchisee shall, prior to performing any underground construction within its franchise area, receive County approval to construct and franchisee shall use its best efforts to locate, in advance, any water, sewage, and drainage lines. Where any damage or alterations occur to the County's water, sewage or drainage lines or to any other County structures in the public ways during the construction due to the presence, negligence, operation or maintenance of the cable system, the sole cost of such repairs including all services and materials will be billed against franchisee and these charges shall be paid immediately or the County may draw on the performance bond, or invoke other appropriate sanctions provided for in this article.

(k)

Licenses/easements.

(1)

Any licenses or easements over or under private property necessary for the construction or operation of the cable system shall be arranged by franchisee. Any easements over or under property owned by the County other than the public ways shall be separately negotiated with the County, except that franchisee may use general utility easements that are dedicated for compatible uses on property owned by the County.

(2)

To the extent allowed by applicable local, State and Federal law, this article authorizes the construction of the cable system over public ways, and through easements, within the franchise area and which have been dedicated for compatible uses, subject to the requirements in this article and the franchise. In using all easements, franchisee shall comply with all Federal, State, and local laws and regulations governing the construction, Installation, operation, and maintenance of a cable system. Without limitation, franchisee shall ensure that:

a.

Where necessary, a grant of easement from the property owner has been secured by franchisee prior to placing facilities on the property;

b.

The safety, functioning and appearance of the property and the convenience and the safety of other persons not be adversely affected by the installation or construction of facilities necessary for the cable system.

(l)

Relocation of the system. Franchisee shall, at its own cost and expense, protect, support, disconnect, relocate or remove from the public ways any portion of the cable system when reasonably required to do so by the County due to street or other public excavation, construction, repair, grading or regrading; traffic conditions; the installation of sewers, drains, water pipes, power or signal lines, trackways or tracks, or County-owned facilities; the vacation, construction or relocation of streets or any other type of structure; or other improvements by the County or another public agency or any other type of improvement which the County reasonably deems necessary for the public health, safety or welfare. The County may temporarily disconnect, remove or relocate any of franchisee's facilities which have not been disconnected, removed or relocated within a reasonable period of time after a request from the County, and franchisee shall reimburse the County its actual expense. Neither the County nor any agent, contractor or employee thereof shall be liable to franchisee for any damages caused them or the cable system due to any activities described in this section.

(m)

Utility crowding. In areas of the County where the cable coordinator finds that the public ways will not readily accommodate further underground facilities, the cable coordinator may require that franchisee's conduits be oversized, duplicated, or placed in multiple configurations, and franchisee shall share the use of its underground conduits and multiple configurations at such locations at reasonable rates.

(n)

Removal of obsolete facilities/cooperation. When franchisee opens a trench, accesses a conduit or boring, or is working on aerial locations, it shall remove all unusable and inactive system facilities (excluding those held for future use) from such locations.

(1)

When franchisee opens a trench or access to borings, it shall notify, through "One Call," all other recipients of franchise agreements, franchisees and permittees in advance of such work, so that they may remove their obsolete facilities from such locations or add new facilities. Franchisee shall cooperate with such persons in such activities.

(2)

When franchisee receives notification from another entity that it is opening a trench or access to borings, franchisee shall remove all of its obsolete facilities from such location while they are open.

(o)

Identification. Franchisee shall identify its cable system and cable drops (by color code, stamping, engraving, tags, stickers, or other appropriate method selected by franchisee) so as to distinguish franchisee's cables from that of all other utilities and service providers in the franchise area.

(p)

Ownership of installed cable. To the extent required by law, subscribers (or the property owner, if different) in single-family or two-family residential housing shall own all cable installed by franchisee inside subscribers' dwellings plus that extending to 12 inches on the outside of the dwelling.

(q)

As-builts/location of facilities. Franchisee shall keep accurate, complete and current maps and records of the cable system and its facilities. Such maps and records shall be available for inspection by the County at franchisee's offices.

(r)

Utility notification program. Franchisee shall participate in and be a member of the State's utility notification program, whether provided for by statute or otherwise.

(s)

Encumbrance. Franchisee shall not open, distribute or encumber, at any one time, any more public way than may, in the opinion of the County Administrator or designee, be necessary to enable franchisee to economically install or repair its facilities; nor shall franchisee permit any public ways to remain open, disturbed or encumbered for a longer period of time than shall be necessary to complete the construction.

(t)

Vacation. If a public way where franchisee has facilities is vacated, eliminated, discontinued or closed, franchisee shall be notified of same and all rights of franchisee under the franchise and this article to use same shall terminate and franchisee shall immediately remove the cable system from such public way unless franchisee obtains any necessary easements from the affected property owners to use the former public way or a court orders the provision of such easements. Franchisee shall be provided 30 days' notice of any proposed vacation proceedings involving its facilities.

(u)

Acquisition of public ways. In acquiring or widening public ways, the county shall determine the minimum right-of-way necessary to accommodate paved streets, pedestrian walkways, landscaping, traffic signals, drainage, water and sewer lines and other governmental facilities.

(Ord. No. 2006-026, § 21, 4-12-2006)