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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 4460 • ' - ECORD TARY TEX. ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTIONS 1, 3 AND 7 AND REPEALING SECTION 13 OF ORDINANCE NO. 4355, THE SAME BEING AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE REGULATION AND USE OF STREETS AND SIDEWALKS AND THE SUB- SURFACE AREA THEREOF BY ABUTTING PROPERTY OWNERS, BY INCLUDING THEREIN CERTAIN OVERHEAD USES, PROVIDING FOR TEMPORARY USE OF STREETS OR SIDEWALKS IN CONNECTION WITH CONSTRUCTION WORK BY EXCLUDING THEREFROM REGULATIONS WITH RESPECT TO SIGNS, MARQUEES, AWNINGS OR OTHER PROJECTIONS, AND PROVIDING FOR RECLASSIFICATION OF UNDER-STREET USES BY REDEFINING CERTAIN CHARGES FOR SPACE REGULATED; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; MAKING THIS ORDINANCE CUMULATIVE; PROVIDING FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF; REPEALING THE PRO- VISIONS OF SECTION 13 OF ORDINANCE NO. 4355; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE FOR THIS ORDINANCE, AS WELL AS ORDINANCE NO. 4355• BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION I. That Section 1 of Ordinance No. 4355 shall be, and is hereby, amended r.r so that hereafter same shall be and read as follows: Section 1. "Whenever the owner or owners, or any agent of said owner or owners, of property abutting on any street or sidewalk desires to make use of any portion of the sidewalk or street abutting on said property lying underneath the said sidewalk or street for the purpose of a cellar, areaway, light shaft, ventilating shaft, sidewalk lift, tunnel., piping or any other purpose, or for over- head uses of the street or sidewalk area for the purpose of passage- ways, conveyors or similar purposes, such owner or owners, or their agent, shall first make application in writing to the Tax Assessor-Collector of the City of Fort Worth for a permit to do so and shall accompany such application with plans and specifica- tions, drawings or other data showing the portion of sidewalk or street to be used and setting forth the dimensions thereof and the purpose for which the sane is to be used. Such plans and speci- fications, drawings or other data shall be referred by the Tax Assessor-Collector to the Director of Public Works for investiga- tion and report. Temporary use of streets or sidewalks in connec- tion with construction work for which a building or construction permit has been obtained from the City, as well as the temporary use thereof for purposes expressly authorized by the City Council, are excepted from the provisions of this ordinance. The provisions hereof shall not apply with respect to signs, marquees, awnings or 1.0 other projections above sidewalk grade regulated by applicable pro- visions of Ordinance No. 4155, the same being also known as the Building Code of the City of Fort Worth." SECTION II. That Section 3 of Ordinance No. 4355 shall be, and is hereby, amended so that hereafter same shall be and read as follows: •.r Section 3. "For all grants made by the City hereunder, the City shall receive an ennual compensation based upon the amount of under- street tunnel, vault, overhead passageway, conveyor space and sidewalk opening or installation to be used by the grantee, which compensation shall be determined annually as follows: "(a) Ascertain the current assessed value per square foot of the owner or owners' land immediately adjacent to the portion of the street, sidewalk or other public area being used for private purposes. (For tunnels or passageways crossing under the public property and connecting two parcels of private property, the average assessed value per square foot for both sides of the street shall be used.) "(b) Multiply the current tax rate for all City purposes by 2.5, then multiply the factor so obtained by the assessed value per square foot as determined in (a) above. "(c) Compute the square footage of sub-area space under public property used or to be used for private purposes and multiply this amount by the result of the computations as determined in (b) above. ti.. "(d) The product shall be the annual rental to be charged for each street use regulated under the terms of this ordinance. "(e) If a tunnel, vault or passageway, or other private use under public property includes one or more levels, the charge for the upper level shall be as specified in (d) above, and the charge for each of the lower levels shall be computed in the same manner as specified above except that the multiplication provision of 2.5 times the tax rate shall not be applied in determining the rental charges for such lower levels. "(f) The annual charge for the space occupied by each side- walk opening, such as stairwells, sidewalk lifts and cellar doors, shall be One Hundred and no/100 Dollars ($100.00) per annum in addi- tion to the annual rental charges herein provided for, and such use shall be in accordance with the regulations provided for in Section 5 of Ordinance No. 4355• "(g) No charge shall be levied for manholes or other solid- cover openings not used under normal business conditions and which have an area opening of five (5) square feet or less. "(h) The annual charge for overhead usage of street or side- walk areas, such as passageways and conveyors, shall be twice the amount of the annual charge for sub-area space as computed above. r "(i) In no case_shall the annual minimum rental charge for use of sub-surface areas or sub-area space be less than Twenty-five and no!100 Dollars ($25.00), and in no case shall the annual minimum rental charge for overhead use be less than Fifty and no/100 Dollars ($50.00). "(j) The annual charge for grated openings and areaways shall be Two and 50/100 Dollars ($2.50) per square foot, with a minimum of not less than Twenty-five and no/100 Dollars ($25.00)." -2- r SECTION III. That Section 7 of Ordinance No. 4. 55 shall be, and is hereby, amended so that hereafter the same shall be and read as follows: Section 7. "Wherever any grant has been heretofore made to any abutting property owner, tenant or occupant to use any portion of the side- walk or street abutting his property, or whenever any abutting property owner, tenant or occupant is now using any portion of any street or sidewalk abutting his property for any of the purposes stated in this ordinance or is using the said street or sidewalk for any other purpose in connection with his property and no com- pensation has been fixed for the use of any portion of such street or sidewalk by a grant to such abutting property owner, tenant or occupant, then in all such cases the said abutting property owner, tenant or occupant shall pay to the City of Fort Worth the compen- sation provided for in this ordinance. All franchises or grants which have been previously made on a different fee basis than pro- vided by this ordinance are hereby superseded so that at the ex- piration of the primary term thereof the fees charged thereafter shall be in accordance with the provisions hereof." SECTION IV. If any section, clause, paragraph or provision of this ordinance shall be held to be unconstitutional or void, the invalidity of such section, clause, paragraph or provision shall not affect the other provisions of this ordinance, which shall remain in full force and effect. SECTION V. The provisions of this ordinance shall be cumulative of and in addition to all other ordinances of the City of Fort Worth providindg for the regu- lation and use of streets and sidewalks and the sub-surface area thereof by abutting property owners, which ordinances are hereby preserved and con- tinued in force and effect; provided, however, that in the event of any conflict, the provisions of this ordinance shall control. SECTION VI. Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this ordinance may be enjoined by a suit filed by the City of Fort Worth in a court of competent ,jurisdiction, and this remedy shall be in addition to any penal provision of this ordinance. -3- SECTION VII. That the provisions of Section 13 of Ordinance No. 4355 are hereby expressly repealed and the effective date of this ordinance and the ef- fective date of Ordinance No. 4355 hereby amended shall be the date of the paesage and publication of this ordinance, as provided by law. Passed and adopted this / h day of A. D. 1961. APPROMP AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: S. G. Johndroe, Jr. City Attorney } -4- � ---�- CITY OF FORS'" WORTH ��. cook'nghamy CITY Mr.FORT WORTS. -- -- y A �+ Mr. Thelin TEXAS . I'�orphis TUiC SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS M.&C.C. Mr. Loving SASgENTED TO THE CITY COUNCIL Mr. Larson - I C E ,},(r10_&I T Y MANAGER, Communication to Mayor and Council No. G I— 66 OFFICIAL RECORD May 19, 1961 CITY SECRETARY mayor and FT. WORTH, TEX. Members of the City Council Re: Proposed Amendments to Ordinance City of Fort Worth Regulating Private use of Public Space over and under Streets and Sidewalks Mrs. McKnight and Gentlemen: On February 24, 1961 , the City Council postponed application of Ordinance No. 4355 and requested more information before acting upon amendments pro- posed by the administrative staff. This Ordinance provides uniform fees and regulations for use of pub}Ic space over and under streets and side- walks. The additional information requested by the City Council was a report on the methods used by other cities to determine street use charges, and an analysis as to whether the charges under the Fort Worth ordinance would be too high in relation to "market value." In 1950, the City surveyed �thsr cities regarding their rental fees for the use of sub-surface space in streets. Of those cities replying that did not make charges for the use of space in city streets, all required City Council approval of each application for such use. Each of these- cities determined the annual rental fee on a set cubic foot basis, which ranged by city from one-fourth of one cent to two cents per cubic foot per annum. One city had a $ 10 minimum, and charged $100 for each sidewalk elevator or lift. Another had a number of additional charges for all special -street Vuses. No standard charge has been developed and applied generally by other cities, and many cities make no charge for private use of city streets. The 1950 survey of other cities has not been updated because it Is +sit to be sufficiently representative of present practice, and it is not felt that further information from other cities would be helpful in establishing equitable rates for Fort Worth. However, if the Council deslres that a new study be made, the staff will do so immediately. It is felt that the basing of rental tees on the value of land involved, as is proposed by the Fort Worth ordinance, is more equitable than a flat rate based upon a cubic foot or square foot determination. The basic question is the determination of an equitable rate for the rental of public property for private usage: To be equitable, the rental rate should vary accordti rto tho va Iae; he,�,�r �" y i ,i►1�Q�,v • A recently completed study of land rentals in Fort Worth indicates that the annual rental for ground leases in Fort Worth varies generally from four to twelve per cent of estimated market value. Land lease agreements made within the last three to five years, with five, ten, and fifteen year F � r' M&C G1-66 May 19, 1961 Page 2 options, with the buildings thereupon owned by the lessee, indicate the annual rental to be six to eight per cent of the estimated market value. Based upon this data, it would appear that an annual rental of two to two and one-half per cent of the hypothetical market value for tunnel and vault space, as provided in the present ordinance, is extremely low. It is less than the rental value that such property would have on the open market. The proposed rental fee is lower still when it is considered that a passage from a property on one side of the street to a property across the street substan- tially enhances the value of the properties involved. The proposed amendments, upon which action by the Council is requested, are designed to correct defects which have been found in the street use ordi- nance, and which it is believed should be corrected before the ordinance is placed in effect. As mentioned in M&C GI-0, the following changes are pro- posed in the ordinance amendment attached: Section I - The amendment to Section I specifically excludes temporary use of streets and sidewalks in connection with construction work, which is covered by the Building Code, from provisions of the ordinance. The amendment also excludes normal building projection such as cornices, sills, water tables and decorative features and building appendages, including signs, marquees and awning, which are all regulated by the Building Code. Section III - No change is made in the basic provisions of Section III which establish the basis for computing the rental rate for tunnel , vault, and overhead passageway space. However, changes are proposed in fees for miscellaneous openings in the sidewalk. The original ordi- nance provided for an annual charge of $ 100 regardless of the type of hole or opening. The ordinance amendment retains the $ 100 per annum charge for larger street openings such as stairwells, sidewalk lifts and cellar doors, but provides for a sliding scale for grated openings and areaways of $2.50 per square foot, with a minimum of $25. The proposed amendment also provides that no charge would be made for small solidly covered openings (area not exceeding five square feet) not used under normal business conditions. In many cases these openings were required under provisions of prior building codes, and it is felt that such small openings which are not useful in carrying out normal business operations should not be required to pay what would amount to a nuisance charge. Section NII - The original ordinance provided that fees included in fran- chises or grants made in the past on a different fee basis would be immediately superceded by those provided by the ordinance. It is doubt- ful that this provision is enforceable since it is inconsistent with con- tractual agreements entered into by prior City Councils. The amendment proposed provides that fees in such franchises or grants shall be super- ceded upon the expiration of the primary term of the grants, and there- after the fees charged shall be in accordance with the provisions of M&C G I- 66 May 19, 1961 Page 3 the ordinance. It is not anticipated that the City will suffer` monetarily due to this proposed ordinance amendment. In two cases, where the contractual terms produce less revenue than would the rates established by the ordinance, it is anticipated that the ordinance can be applied immediately due to the specific terms in those contracts. Section XIII - The amendment proposed establishes the effective date of both Ordinance No. 4355 and the amendment as being the effective date of the amendment itself. This provision will allow the Tax Department ade- quate time to prepare for collection of fees under this new ordinance without interfering with or delaying the present tax equalization pro- gram. Under the new provision, the first bills would be issued in the fall of 1961 and would become due prior to the first day of January, 1962. Restudy of the street use ordinance, and the compilation of additional in- formation, summarized herein, which was requested by the City Council , further indicates the equity ofthe basis for fee computations provided for, and points out the reasonableness of the fees to be levied under the terms of the ordinance. There is attached the recommended amendment to Ordinance No. 4355, upon which Council action is requested, and a table giving basic information about present contracts for use of street space and comparing present fees with those provided by the ordinance. Respectfully submitted, LPC: ih 9*61, g attachments (2)