§ 13.56.200. Owner Initiated Deactivation, Abandonment and/or Removal of Facilities.

A.

Notification of Deactivated and/or Abandoned Facilities. Any Owner that intends to permanently discontinue use of any Facilities within the rights-of-way shall notify the Director in writing of the intent to discontinue use. Such notice shall describe the Facilities for which the use is to be discontinued, a date of discontinuance of use, which date shall not be less than thirty days from the date such notice is submitted to the Director. When a County department is discontinuing use of any Facilities, notification to the Public Works Department of plans that include information on deactive or abandoned Facilities shall constitute notice to the Director under this section. Upon notification, the Director at his or her sole discretion will identify which of the following options are available to the Owner (default to option A.1. if the Director does not identify which option to use).

1.

Deactivate or abandon the Facility in Place and the Facility remains the property of the Owner. The Owner shall retain the responsibility for all obligations as Owner of the Facilities, or other liabilities associated therewith. At the discretion of the Director, the Owner may be required to fill abandoned underground Facilities with material as approved by the Director. With respect to any Facilities that are deactivated or abandoned, the Owner shall continue to be responsible for maintaining records related to the nature of the Facilities, and locating Facilities as if Facilities had not been deactivated or abandoned. Such deactivated or abandoned Facilities may be required to be removed at the Owner's expense, at the County's discretion, at such time as the County determines necessary.

2.

Facility shall be removed and the Owner shall be liable for removing its deactivated or abandoned Facilities at its own cost. This obligation to remove Facilities applies as well upon termination or revocation of any Franchise or License, unless alternative arrangements have been agreed to in writing. The Owner shall be obligated to restore affected property to the same or better condition as existed just prior to such removal, subject to any rights to deactivate or abandon Facilities in place, as set forth in this section. Restoration will be done in accordance with the County's Specifications and Section 13.56.350 Restoration of rights-of-way. If an Owner fails to remove Facilities that the County requires it to remove, the County may perform or cause the Work to be performed and collect the cost thereof from the Owner.

3.

Deactivate or abandon the Facility in place and the Owner shall further convey full title and ownership of such Facilities to the County. The Owner is responsible for all obligations of the Facilities, or other liabilities associated therewith, until the conveyance to the County is completed. At the discretion of the Director, the Owner may be required to fill abandoned underground Facilities with material as approved by the Director.

B.

An Owner shall file a written removal plan with the County not later than thirty calendar days following the date of the receipt of any orders directing removal, or any consent to removal, describing the Work that will be performed, the manner in which it will be performed, and a schedule for removal by location. The removal plan shall be subject to approval and regulation by the County. The affected property shall be restored to as good or better condition than existed immediately prior to removal, subject to approval of the County.

C.

The Director shall use reasonable discretion to determine a time period to remove Facilities based upon the size of the Facilities and scope of deployment throughout the County, and whether such Facilities are above ground or underground. In no case shall an Owner with Facilities deployed County-wide be provided less than twelve months to remove its Facilities, measured from the date the Owner is ordered to remove its Facilities.

(Ord. No. 15033, § 1(Att. A), 6-24-2014)