Sec. 126-502. Legislative declaration.
The city council finds and determines that the installation of underground facilities within public property of the City, city streets, or within other city property which the city has a right of use by dedication or other grant is a matter that affects the public health, safety and welfare in that the design, maintenance, and implementation of public improvements directly affect the activities of citizens who are utilizing streets, roadways, other city property, and other public properties of the City. The city council further finds and declares that the underground relocation ("undergrounding") of overhead lines, wires, cables, overhead electric distribution lines, overhead telecommunications lines along with the removal of utility poles from city streets and other city property serves a wide variety of important public purposes:
(1) Undergrounding enhances public safety by: removing obstructions in the right-of-way, mitigating the risk of vehicular collisions with utility poles; improving the sight lines for vehicular and pedestrian traffic along roadways; and mitigating the risk of hazards associated with negligent or inadvertent contact with overhead lines.
(2) Undergrounding enhances the appearance and aesthetics of the City by: removing unsightly lines and poles from public view; improving scenic vistas in and around city parks and natural areas toward the mountains, and within the City's residential and commercial neighborhoods generally; and allowing the City's tree canopy to flourish without conflict with overhead utility lines.
(3) Undergrounding enhances the safety and security of the electric and telecommunications lines themselves by protecting the lines from damage due to inclement weather or accidents, and thus preserves the continuity and reliability of electric and telecommunications services to the public at large.
(4) Coordinated undergrounding projects, in which all effected electric and telecommunications lines are relocated underground at the same time, offer the most efficient way to achieve the benefits of undergrounding at the lowest possible cost for the owners of the lines and their customers.
(5) The city has included within its electric utility franchise certain undergrounding requirements for electric distribution facilities, including the establishment of a fund for electric undergrounding projects as directed by the director.
(6) The city has included within its cable television franchises undergrounding requirements for cable television lines, requiring the franchisee to relocate its overhead lines underground when other overhead utility lines are being relocated underground.
(7) The continued existence of overhead telecommunications lines and utility poles in a location where all other utilities have been relocated underground compromises public safety and the general welfare of the public.
(8) As a home rule city, Aurora exercises broad inherent authority to regulate the use of city streets, alleys, parks, parkways, and other city-owned property under the police power.
It is, therefore, necessary to provide a comprehensive system of regulation and inspection of undergrounding of overhead electrical distribution lines and overhead telecommunications lines through the enactment of this article. With the exception of sections 126-504, 126-505, 126-513, and 126-514, undergrounding activities within publicly dedicated utility easements are not governed by this article. (Code 1979, § 39-130; Ord. No. 2019-09, § 2, 3-18-2019; Ord. No. 2015-25, § 6, 6-29-2015; Ord. No. 2005-27, § 3, 5-16-2005)