Licenses to Use Public Right of Way

Section 1. Ordinance No. 88489 is hereby rescinded.

Section 2. For the purposes of this ordinance, “Public Right of Way” shall be defined to include, but not be limited to, any public street, traffic easement, road, lane, path, place, alley, sidewalk, median, boulevard, parkway, or drive, including drainage, whether used by easement or owned in fee by the City.

Section 3. Requests for license agreements to use Public Right of Way require petitioners to submit a petition, which may be in the form of a letter that identifies the purpose, location and nature of the proposed use of Public Right of Way.

Section 4. The standard term for each license shall be ten (10) years.

Section 5. The non-refundable processing fee for each license to use Public Right of Way shall be five hundred dollars ($500.00).

Section 6. Staff is authorized to negotiate the license fee for any pipeline in Public Right of Way.

Section 7. Except as provided below, the fee for each non-pipeline use of Public Right of Way shall be the greater of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) or ten percent (10%) per year of the average of Bexar County Appraisal District assessed values in the vicinity for surface rights, seven and one-half percent (7.5%) per year of the average of Bexar County Appraisal District assessed values in the vicinity for air rights, or five percent (5%) per year of the average of Bexar County Appraisal District assessed values in the vicinity for sub-surface rights.

Section 8. Staff may recommend to City Council the reduction or waiver of thelicense fee if the petitioner requests to 1) use subsurface space under a Public Right of Way for an existing basement or utility vault; 2) make improvements specifically beneficial to the public; 3) preserve, protect, or enhance historically, culturally, architecturally, or archaeologically significant sites or structures; or 4) make improvements that would qualify for reduction or waiver of fees in the City’s Incentive Toolkit, or its equivalent.

Section 9. Staff shall collect a discounted license fee that is equal to approximately fifty percent (50%) of the current license fee for any unauthorized use of Public Right of Way existing prior to September 1998 (when the current license fee structure was authorized by City Council).

Section 10. Staff shall prepare, and petitioner shall execute, a Letter of Agreement by which petitioner agrees to the closure fee and all conditions imposed by City departments and utility agencies.

Section 11. Upon the submission of all required documents and fees,staff shall present the request for consideration during a regular meeting of the Planning Commission, unless the request is a renewal of an existing license agreement, and at a regular City Council meeting.

Section 12. A Memorandum of License Agreement shall be recorded by staff in the Official Public Records of Real Property of Bexar County, Texas.

Section 13. All construction, excavation and placement of utilities, or other facilities, in Public Right of Way is subject to regulation under the City’s Public Right of Way Management Policy as codified in the City Code, as may be amended from time to time, or its successor ordinance.

Section 14. The fees shall be deposited in Fund No. 11-000000 (General Fund) in Index Code 012732 entitled “License Agreements - Use of ROW”.

Section 15. This ordinance shall be effective on October 13, 2002.