§ 5.51. Findings.  


Latest version.
  • The City Council hereby finds and determines that:

    (a)

    The City has the authority to adopt ordinances and to promulgate rules and regulations that pertain to its government and affairs and governing the use of public right-of-way and that protect the public health, safety, and welfare of its citizens;

    (b)

    The City uses the public rights-of-way within its corporate limits to provide essential public services to its residents and businesses, including traffic control signals, water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer;

    (c)

    Other utility service providers, including electricity, telephone, natural gas and cable television and video service providers have placed, or from time to time may request to place, certain utility facilities in the public rights-of-way within the City;

    (d)

    Legislatures and regulatory agencies at the state and federal levels have implemented changes in the regulatory framework to enhance competition in the providing of various utility services;

    (e)

    The combination of legislative and regulatory changes and the development of new technologies has led additional service providers to seek opportunities to provide services in the City;

    (f)

    These regulatory and technological changes have resulted in demands for access to and use of the public rights-of-way in the City as service providers, particularly in the video and communications services, attempt to provide new or additional services to compete with incumbent service providers;

    (g)

    Unlike prior deregulations of utility services in which incumbent service providers have been required to make their transmission and/or distribution systems available to competitors, video and communications services seeking to compete with incumbent service providers are seeking to install their own facilities for delivering competing video and communications services, thereby increasing the number of service providers seeking access to and use of the public rights-of-way in the City;

    (h)

    The public rights-of-way within the City are a limited public resource held in trust by the City for the benefit of its citizens and the City has a custodial duty to ensure that the public rights-of-way are used, repaired and maintained in a manner that best serves the public interest;

    (i)

    It is necessary to and in the best interests of the public health, safety and general welfare to establish uniform standards and regulations for access to and use of the public rights-of-way in the City by utility service providers and other persons and entities that desire to place structures, facilities or equipment in the public rights-of-way, so as to: (1) prevent interference with the use of streets, sidewalks, alleys and other public ways and places by the City and the general public, (2) protect against visual and physical obstructions to vehicular and pedestrian traffic, (3) prevent interference with the facilities and operations of the City's utilities and of other utilities lawfully located in public rights-of-way or property, (4) protect against environmental damage, including damage to trees, from the installation of utility facilities, (5) preserve the character of the neighborhoods in which facilities are installed, (6) prevent visual blight, and (7) assure the continued safe use and enjoyment of private properties adjacent to utility facilities locations;

    (j)

    This Article is enacted in the exercise of the City's home rule powers, the corporate authorities having determined that the regulation of the use of the public rights-of-way in the City is a matter pertaining to the affairs of the City as provided in Article VII, Section 6 of the Constitution of the State of Illinois of 1970;

    (k)

    In addition to the City's power as a home rule municipality, this Article is adopted pursuant to the provisions of: (1) the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/1-1-1, et seq., including, without limitation, Sections 11-20-5, 11-20-10, 11-42-11, 11-42-11.2, 11-80-1, 11-80-3, 11-80-6, 11-80-7, 11-80-8, 11-80-10, and 11-80-13), (2) Section 4 of the Telephone Company Act (220 ILCS 65/4), (3) the Illinois Highway Code, including, without limitation, Articles 7 and 9 thereof (605 ILCS 5/1-101, et seq.), (4) the Simplified Municipal Telecommunications Tax Act (35 ILCS 636/1, et seq.), and (5) the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2008 (220 ILCS 5/21-100, et seq.);

    (l)

    This Article establishes generally applicable standards for construction on, over, above, along, upon, under, across, or within the public right-of-way, and for the use of and repair of the public right-of-way;

    (m)

    In the enactment of this Article, the City has considered a variety of standards for construction on, over, above, along, under, across, or within, use of and repair of the public right-of-way, including, but not limited to, the standards relating to Accommodation of Utilities on Right-of-Way of the Illinois State Highway System promulgated by the Illinois Department of Transportation and found at 92 Ill. Adm. Code Section 530.10, et seq.; and

    (n)

    It is in the best interest of the City, the public and the utilities using the public rights-of-way to establish a comprehensive set of construction standards and requirements to achieve various beneficial goals, including, without limitation, enhancing the planning of new utility facilities; minimizing interference with, and damage to, rights-of-way and the streets, sidewalks, and other structures and improvements located in, on, over and above the rights-of-way; and reducing costs and expenses to the public.

(Ord. 3-2008 § 2 (part))