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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 2432ORIGINAL.'"' ' ORDINANCE HO. CZ^JX- AN ORDINANCE 0? THE CITY OF RENTON, WASHINGTON, DECLARING AND ESTABLISHING THE CITY'S POLICY WITH RESPECT TO THE UNDERGROUND RELOCATION, INSTALLATION AND CONVERSION OF ESISTIB3 AND HEW ELECTRIC AND COHMKIICATXON FACILITIES W2253D1 THE CITY OF RENTON; PROVIDING CERTAIN BB^DXREKESSTS AND PROCEDURES RELATING THERETO; REQUIRING CONNECTIONS AND KESCGSKECXIOKS BY OWNERS AFFECTED THEREBY At© PROVIDING PEIiALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF BE IT 0PJ3AIBED EY THE MAYOR AHD TEE CITY COSJNCIL OF THE CITY OF RENTON AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I: A. It ehs.U be and it is hereby made the policy of the City of Renton to require compliance with the following orderly program pertaining to the underground relocation of all existing overhead wires carrying any electrical energy, including, hut not limited to, telephone, telegraph, cable television and electrical power, and to require the underground installation of all new electrics! communication facilities, subject to certain exceptions noted hereafter. It is especially found and determined by the City that the health, safety, especially the safety of the traveling public, and general welfare of the residents of the community require that all such existing overhead facilities be relocated underground as soon &3 practicable in accordance with the requirements specified herein and that ail new facilities specified herein be installed underground. B. The purpsse of this Ordinance, among others, is to establish minimum requirements and procedures for the underground installation and relocation of electrical and commur-icafc.ion facilities within the City of Renton. c» Scope,,. Subject to the excepted facilities listed in Pa^rapb 0 of this section, this Ordinance ehall apply to all electric facilities and to all communication facilities, including but not limited to telephone, telegraph and cable television facilities. Excepted facilities from underground requirements. This Ordinance shall not apply to the following facilities: 1. Electric utility sub-stations, pad-mounted transformers and switching facilities not located on the public right- of-way where site screening is or will be provided in accord- ance with SECTION V, C2. 2. Electric transmission systems of a voltage of 55 kv or more, (including poles and wires) and equivalent communication facilities where the utility providing electrical energy is willing to provide at its expense an underground street,lighting circuit including all conductor and conduit to a point on the poles at least forty (40) feet above ground level to serve utility-owned street lighting fissures to be mounted on the poles at said location. 3. Ornamental street lighting standards. 4. Telephone pedestals and other equivalent communication facilities. 5. Police and fire sirens, or any similar municipal equipment, including traffic control equipment. SECTION II; COST. The cost and expense of converting existing over- head facilities to underground, or installing new facilities underground, shall be torne by the serving utilities, and/or the owners or occupants of the real property served, and/or persons applying for such underground service in accordance with the applicable filed tariffs, or the published policies of the respective utilities furnishing such service; PROVIDED, HOWEVER that whenever the City determines that the public health, welfare, convenience and pedestrian and vehicular traffic safety in any street or road widening or relocation project requires conversion of existing overhead facilities to an undegground installation, then in any such event, the utility or utilities affected shall provide such work at its own cost and expense; such latter requirement shall apply to major or arterial streets or roadways carrying an average of 10,000 vehicles or more per day and shall be limited to 1.5 miles of such street or roadway per annum. In the absence of any filed tariffs, rules or regulations, published policies or contractual agreement as hereinabove set forth, the cost and expense of relocating existing facilities, or installing new facilities to underground, may be financed by any other method authorized by State law. SECTION III; Underground Requirements. A. .Definitions. The following terms wben used in this Ordinance shall have the meanings given below: 1. Rebuilds; A replacement of overhead facilities for a distance of three (3) or more spans (four poles) or five hundred (500*) feet exclusive of replacements due to casualty dasaage. 2, Services; Facilities located on private property and/or for the specific purpose of servicing one customer. 3. Relocations; Removal of existing facilities with subsequent re-installation at an adjacent location, generally necessitated by roadway widening projects, shall constitute a relocation. B. SERVICES. All new elecstric or communication services from an overhead or underground facility to service connections of structures shall be installed underground from and after the effective date of this Ordinance. All rebuilt or relocated electric or communication services from an overhead or underground facility to service connections of structures shall be installed underground from and after the effective date of this Ordinance, excepting those which only involve a change in the overhead service line without a change in the corresponding service entrance facilities. C. Business Centers and Industrial Areas. 1. The following requirements apply to all areas of the City of Renton which are outlined on the attached map. 2. All existing overhead electric and communication facilities, with the exceptions previously noted in Section I D, shall be converted to underground facilities within fifteen (15) years from the effective date of this Ordinance, subject to a ten (10) year extension by the City whereby in the City's judgment, their financial situation prohibits the City from participating to the degree implied by the provisions of this Ordinance. 3. All extension, rebuilds, relocations, or duplications of existing overhead electric and communication facilities shall be instailed underground from and after the effective date of this Ordinance. 4. All areas rezoned for commercial or industrial use after the effective date of this Ordinance shall be converted to underground in the same manner as provided herein in sub- paragraph 2 for existing facilities within fifteen (15) 3- years from the effective date of such rezooing, subject to a ten (10) year extension by the City, provided that the Board of Public Works elects to add such rezoned areas to those outlined on the attached map as designated in sub-paragraph 1 above. D. Residential Areas. 1. The following requirements apply to all areas zoned by the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance of the City of Renton as single family and multi.-family residential. 2. All extensions, duplications, relocations, or rebuilds of existing overhead electric and communication facilities shall be installed underground from and after the effective date of this OrdL nance. E. Retail Business and Public Facilities. 1. The following requirements apply to all areas not included in Paragraph C above and zoned by the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Renton as retail business and public facilities. 2. The underground requirements respecting all electric or communication facilities in theee areas shall conform to the requirements of the immediately surrounding areas as determined by the zoning classifications, provided, that where the surrounding areas have varying requirements in accordance with the provisions of SECTIONS III C and III D the under- ground requirements shall be those applicable to the predominantly surrounding area. 1. Street Lighting Street lighting facilities or systems conforming to the current standards of the City of Renton Traffic Engineer shall be installed as an integral part of all undergrounding projects. G, All rights-of-way proposed to be dedicated to the City and/or easements for public facilities shall be subject to the provisions of this Ordinance. H. The owner or owners of real property abutting an underground project shall be responsible, at his or their expense, for converting to underground -4 service and disconnecting their overhead services within thirty (30) days following notice in writing of the availability of such underground service. Time in con- summating such connection and disconnection is of the essence and such notice to the property owner or occupant may be mailed, postage prepaid, or delivered in person. 1, Where abovegrade pole line installations are permitted under the variance procedures outlined in SECTION VI, conductors shall be placed in verticil alignment or any other appooved alignment as subsequently designated by the City Traffic Engineer. J, Plans for all above-ground installations, including those excepted under SECTION I, D 1, shall be submitted to the Planning Department for approval of site screening and set-backs prior to the issuance of a service permit by the Building Department. K. As-built -Project Drawings in a form and scale conforming to generally accepted engineering practice shall be submitted in dip licate to the office of the City Traffic Engineer within thirty (30) days of the completion of any underground project within the City. In addition, each utility shall submit in duplicate as-built drawings of all of its underground facilities wL thin the City on an annual basis, commencing on January 1, following the effective dateof this Ordinance, provided that if said drawings are not available at the time of the effective date of this Ordinance, each utility shall be given a reasonable time to prepare such drawings. SECTION IV. Permits and Fees. An underground permit shall be acquired by the serving utility from the office of the City Traffic Engineer prior to the proceeding with construction of facilities in the public right-of-way, easements for public facilities, and/or public property. The fee for and terms for such permit for any undergrounding as hereinabove defined, shall be identical and in addition to that specified in Chapter 8 Title IX of Ordinance No. 1628 entitlsi "Code of General Ordinances of the City of Renton" and/or any future amendments thereto.. B. Overhead Permit. Where above-grade pole line installations are permitted under the variance procedures of SECTION VI, a permit shall be acquired by the serving utility from the office of the City Traffic Engineer prior to proceeding with construction of such facilities in the public right-of-way and/or -5- public property. The fee for and terms of such permit shall be identical to and in lieu of that specified in Chapter 8 Title IX of Ordinance No. 1628 and any subsequent amendments thereto.' C. Amendment to Chapter 8 Title IX of Ordinance No. 1628. Chapter 8 Title IX of Ordinance No. 1628 is hereby amended to exclude overhead pole lines for which jurisdiction shall henceforth be placed under the Office of the City Traffic Engineer and for which the permit provisions of Paragraph B above shall apply. D. The terms of the above permits create a liability on the serving utility for excess inspection fees as provided for in Chapter 8 Title IX of Ordinance No. 1628 and/or any amendments thereto. SECTION V. Design Standards A. All conductors, switches, transformers, and lqgulating devices shall be installed in accordance with the applicable national, state, and local safety standards. All structural devices shall be designed in accordance with the provisions of the latest edition of the Uniform Building Code, subject to the provision of the immediately following sub-paragraph. A. 1. All underground facilities provided for herein shall be installed in such manner as to coordinate with other underground facilities, i.e. water, sewer and gas pipelines, traffic control and other signal systems. Whenever such coordina- tion requires installation practices more restrictive or demanding than the minimum standards required by applicable National, State and Local Codes and Safety standards, the requirements of such coordination shall be governing and controlling. B. All vaults, handholes, ventilation gratings, and access covers and conduit in public rights-of-way shall be strong enough to withstand 10,000 pound wheel load. The serving utility may, at their option, elect to restrict a 10,000 pound wheel load requirement to traveled street areas while assuming the responsibility for up-grading facilities beyond the original traveled street areas should subsequent widening occur. C. Any equipment excepted from those underground requirements or otherwise permitted to be installed above-ground shall be: 1, Placed within an enclosure or part of the building being served, or 2. Suitably screened with masonry or other decorative panels and/or evergreen trees, shrubs, and landscaping planted in -6- sufficient depth and height, within a period of five (5) years, to form an effective sight barrier. The utility shall be responsible for the installation, maintenance, repair, or replacement of the aforementioned screening materials when the real property on which the above-ground facility is located is owned by the utility. When said above-ground facility is located on non-utility owned real property, the owner (s) shall bear the expense of installation maintenance, repair or replacement of screening materials outlined hereinabove. D. Space frames and structural arrangements for holding equipment shall be designed to have an uncluttered and neat appearance. E. Streets shall be graded to sub-grade prior to the installation of underground facilities. SECTION VI. Variance Procedures. A. All applications for variances from the foregoing underground requirements shall first be filed with the City of Renton Board of Public Works. The Board shall promulgate rules and regulations governing application for, hearings pertaining to, and the grantings of variances from the foregoing underground requirements. Underground requirements shall be waived by a variance only if the utility owner or user or any other affected party can demonstrate that it would work an undue hardship to place the facilities concerned underground. By an undue hardship is meant a technological difficulty aseociated with the particular facility, o r with the particular real property involved, or a cost of undergrounding such a facility which, in the Board's discretion, is deemed to outweigh the general welfare consideration implicit in underground installation, or an area where the growth pattern has not been sufficient established to permit the determination of ultimate service requirements or major service routes. SECTION VII. A. Joint Trenches. In the undergrounding of facilities, as contemplated by this Ordinance, it is the City's intent to authorize the establish- ment of joint or common teenches; that is, the utilization of a single trench where feasible by all utilities and/or franchise holders involved in the relocation of overhead facilities. Upon application for an underground permit, the City Traffic -7- Engineer shall determine what utilities and franchise holders shall use the proposed '•t trench and the issuance date of the applicable underground permit. If at the time of application for an underground permit, it does not appear that all utilities involved in the undergrounding project have made appropriate arrangements for the use of common trenches, the City of Rental Traffic Engineer may delay the issuance of such permit until all utilities involved in such relocation shall have been given the opportunity to be heard upon two weeks' notice. SECTION VTII; Enforcement. A. Any violation of the provisions of this Ordinance or any amendments thereto by any entity or individual affected thereby shall be and constitute a mis- demeanor and upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine not exceeding $25.00 for each day of such violation; provided however that any violation of Section IV hereinabove be governed by Chapter 8, Title X and Chapter 3, Title I, (General Penalty) of Ordinance No. 1628 entitled 'Code of General Ordinances of the City of Renton1'. B. Enforcement Officer: Ehe City of Renton Traffic Engineer or his designated representative shall be responsible for investigation of violations and citation of the violating parties. SECTION IX: Any and all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed and superseded. PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL this2^ day of September, 1968 Gerard M. Shellan, City .attorney DATE OF PUBLiCATION SEP 2 7 1968