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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 7217 ORDINANCE NO. _� AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING ADDITIONAL 70W-AWAY ZONES, WHEREIN ANY VEHICLE ILLEGALLY STOPPED, STANDING OR PARKED SHALL BE SUBJECT TO IMPOUNDMENT, BY AMEND- ING SECTION 26-122 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH (1964) , AS AMENDED; PROVIDING FOR THE SERVICE OF TOWING AND IMPOUNDMENT BY AMENDING SECTION 26- 123 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH (1964) , AS AMENDED; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE OF ALL PROVISIONS OF ORDINANCES AND OF SUCH CODE AFFECTING MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A PENAL CLAUSE; AND NAMING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1. That Subsection (b) of Section 26-122 of Chapter 26 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, be, and the same is hereby amended and, after having been so amended, same shall be and read as follows: " (b) Each of the following is designated as a tow-away zone, effective when notice of said zone is given by an official traffic- control device, and any vehicle unlawfully stopped, standing or parked in any such tow- away zone shall be removed in the manner and to the place provided by this chapter: "(1) Seventh Street, from Lamar Street to Jones Street; "(2) Sixth Street, from Jones Street to Cherry Street; "(3) Lamar Street, from Weatherford Street to First Street; "(4) Taylor Street, from First Street to Belknap Street; "(5) First Street, from Lamar Street to Commerce Street. " SECTION 2. That Subsection (c) of Section 26-123 of Chapter 26 of the Code of the City of Fort worth (1964) , as amended, be, and the same is hereby amended and, after having been so amended, same shall be and read as follows: "(a) whenever the provisions of this chapter provide for the towing away and impound- ment of any vehicle or other property, such service shall be performed either pursuant to the wrecker rotation list procedure spe- cified by the provisions of Chapter 39 of this Code and/or by contract." SECTION 3. That this ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort worth (1964) , as amended, affecting motor vehicles and traffic, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event such conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 4. That all rights or remedies of the City of Fort worth, Texas, are expressly saved as to any and all violations of the provisions of Chapter 26 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1964) , as amended, and of any other ordinance affecting motor vehicles and traffic which have accrued at the time of the ef- fective date of this ordinance; and, as to such accrued viola- tions and all pending litigation, both civil and criminal, -2- whether pending in court or not, under such chapter and/or other ordinances, same shall not be affected by this ordi- nance but may be prosecuted until final disposition by the courts. SECTION 5. That it is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared void, ineffective or unconstitu- tional by the valid judgment or final decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such voidness, ineffectiveness or unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation herein of any such void, ineffective or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sen- tence, paragraph or section. SECTION 6. That any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and each such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each day or portion thereof during which any violation of any of the provisions of this ordinance is committed, continued or permitted, and each violation shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) . -3- SECTION 7. That this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage and publication as required by law, and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: 0 rin, d4� I S. G. nHNDROE, JR., City Attorney -4- fi City of* Dort Worth, Texas DAvls Mayor and Council Communication LINE HUMAN BAILIFF PDIGE Temporary Closing of Weatherford DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT: PAGE NUMBER p ry g GRAHAM I"E9/25/75 TE-105 Street from Taylor to Throckmorton i of J REED NALLS WILKrb LAKE On June 23, 1975, City Council approved the execution of a Consent Agreement (M&C C-3119) to allow encroachments into public right-of-way, as proposed for the Tandy Center, and authorized the City Manager to execute a Community Facilities contract with the Tandy Corporation. A portion of the encroachment into public right-of-way mentioned in that Consent Agreement is the construction of a basement that will be built in part under Weatherford Street between Taylor and Throckmorton Streets. Staff has worked with representatives of the Tandy Corporation to de- termine the work sequence, method of construction, and method of traffic handling during the construction of this portion of the basement. Several alternative traffic detour plans were considered. Only two alternatives seemed to be at all feasible. One is to construct a detour through the vacant lot north of the present Weatherford Street from Taylor to Throckmorton. The other is to close Weatherford entirely and to detour traffic from Weatherford to Lamar to First Street to Throckmorton to Weatherford. Each alternative was analyzed by engineers employed by Tandy Corporation and by City staff engineers. Either alternative will undoubtedly cause traffic disruption and increased congestion. A major consideration of these two alternatives is the effect on business in the Central Business District during the Christmas shopping season. It is expected that if this one block of Weatherford is closed to traffic immediately it can be fully reopened to traffic by the middle of November, prior to the busiest Christmas shopping season. If the detour used is across the vacant lot north of the work area, however, the construction time will be significantly lengthened. In fact, it will probably take twice as long, which would result in work being in progress throughout the 1975 Christmas shopping season. A third option that was considered would be to delay all work on Weatherford until after January 1, 1976. The results of that option would be to delay the entire project approxi- mately six months. After consideration of all factors the City staff estimates that traffic can be detoured as described above and maintain a reasonable flow of traffic during the 90 days of constructiono The Consent Agreement allows the temporary closing of Weatherford Street with the following conditions: 1. Barricades, detours and signs, as approved by the Traffic Engineering Director, shall be installed and maintained by Tandy Corporation or its agents. DATE REFS ERCE SUBJECT: Temporary Closing of Weatherford PAGE NUM 8/25/75 TE-105 Street from Taylor to Throckmorton 2 ,f 3 2. The City shall perform all work necessary to modify the traffic signal system, street lights, parking meters, and pavement markings and shall be reimbursed for all expenses by Tandy Corporation. The cost of this work is estimated to be $20,000. 3. Tandy Corporation shall furnish an off-duty policeman, according, to the following schedule: a. Each weekday for one week immediately following closure of Weatherford Street - one police officer each at Weatherford and Lamar, Lamar and First, First and Throckmorton, and at Weatherford and Throckmorton from 7:00 A.M. until 5:30 P.M. b. Each weekday thereafter during closure of Weatherford Street - one police officer each at Weatherford and Lamar and at First and Throckmorton from 7:00 A.M. until 8:30 A.M. and from 4:00 P.M. to 5:30 P.M. The cost of off- duty policemen is estimated to be $6,200 for the 90-day period. 4. Tandy Corporation solely at its own cost shall reconstruct the northeast corner of Lamar and First Street to provide a 50- foot radius to remain until Weatherford is reopened to traffic. 5. Tandy Corporation solely at its own cost shall widen First Street from Taylor to Throckmorton to a width of 48 feet face to face of curb by adding a lane to the north side of the street as a temporary measure to facilitate the flow of traffic. 6. It is agreed that Weatherford Street shall be completely reopened to traffic prior to midnight November 23, 1975 It is recognized that the closing of Weatherford would result in some hardship on motorists It would be a detriment to shopping in the Central Business District if continued during the Christmas season In order to assure that the contractor shall employ every means available to reopen Weatherford at the earliest possible date and in recognition of the potential loss to the citizens and merchants of Fort Worth, the amount of $1,000 per day shall be assessed the Tandy Corporation for each day that the street is left closed or partially closed after the estimated completion date stated above This $1,000 fee shall be assessed without regard to inclement weather, availability of materials, labor disputes, acts of God, or any other delay regardless of the responsibility PARKING RESTRICTIONS AND TOW-AWAY ZONES Due to the extremely large volume of traffic that must use this detour and recognizing that illegal parking of vehicles would cause the operation DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT: Temporary Closing of Weatherford PAGE NUMBE8/25/75 TE-105 Street from Taylor to Throckmorton 3 ,t 3 of the detour to fail, the staff also proposes to designate the following sections of streets as tow-away zones for the period of time that Weatherford Street is closed: 1. Lamar Street from Weatherford Street to First Street 2. Taylor Street from First Street to Belknap Street 3. First Street from Lamar Street to Commerce Street In conjunction with the tow-away zones the Traffic Engineers shall prohibit parking on Lamar Street from Weatherford Street to First and on First Street from Lamar Street to Main Street with the exception of Dillards loading zone in the 200 Block of West First Street and Stripling's package pick-up in the 100 Block of West First Street. Upon reopening of Weatherford Street Council will be asked to repeal the above referenced tow-away zones, STREET USAGE COST Section 4601 of the City of Fort Worth Building Code requires that the Building Division of the City charge a fee for the temporary closure of any public street or sidewalk for construction purposes. The total fee for both the street and sidewalk closure for a 90 day period will be $2,691. If in the event that the street must remain closed beyond the estimated 90 day period, the closure fee of $29 90 per day plus the sum of $1,000 per day will be assessed. RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that: 1. Council approve the temporary closing of Weatherford Street from Taylor to Throckmorton untilNovember 23, 1975, subject to the six conditions listed above; 2. The attached amendment to Chapter 26, Section 26-122, Code of The City of Fort Worth, concerning tow-away zones, be approved; and 3. The City Manager be authorized to sign the Consent Agreement. RNL:b Attachment SUBMITTED BY: DISPOSITION Y COUNCIL: PROCE ED BY ROVED ❑AO�THER (DESCRIBE) 0- �p�/ CITY SECRET RY DATE CITY MANAGER ;Zr- 121