Agenda - Council - 02/24/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE INTRODUCE RIGHT-OF-WAY ORDINANCE By: Steve Jankowski, City Engineer Background: Since the spring of 1996, the League of Minnesota Cities and the City of Redwood Falls have been involved in a dispute with U.S. West Communications and other telecommunications interests over the scope of municipal authority to manage and regulate telecommunication companies using city fight-of-ways. With multiple telecommunication providers on the horizon, we may not know whose facility we may be working with or around. The purpose of this case is to introduce an ordinance regulating the use of city right-of-way. It is based upon a model ordinance developed in cooperation between the City Engineers Association of Minnesota and the League of Minnesota Cities. The intended purpose of the model is to give cities a uniform set of regulations to help them govern the use of their rights-of-way. It is intended to provide a single set of regulations that cities can apply to ail right-of-way users, including telecommunications companies. The ordinance conforms to the provisions of the new telecommunications fight-of-way legislation adopted into law as Minn. Session Laws 1997, Chapter 123 (Chapter 123). In particular, the ordinance implements a city's authority to manage its fight-of-ways and to recover its actual costs incurred in managing excavations and/or obstruction within the right-of-way. It should be noted that all the issues were not resolved by the time the legislature adjourned, so the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was directed to establish a task force to draft rules and a model ordinance relating to the placement of utilities in public rights-of-way. The legislation gave the PUC until March 1, 1998, to adopt the new rules. In the absence of adopted rules, the legislation authorized city's to adopt their own regulations. The PUC has notified the legislature they will be requesting an extension until December 31, 1998, to promulgate the rules. Cities, therefore, have the authority to adopt their own regulations for this construction season, but it is also likely that this ordinance may need to be revised when the PUC completes its work. The ordinance addresses the terms and conditions under which utilities may locate their facilities in our rights-of-way, as defined by the law. Most notable elements of the ordinance are as follows: Registration with the City so we know who to contact; Permitting requirements and fees so we will be reimbursed for staff time, mapping, and supporting costs when working around their facilities; Restoration requirements that encourage coordinating with our annual reconstruction program, and avoid digging up recently constructed streets;