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HomeMy WebLinkAboutO-1972-915 :.. ~ . -.-'" ~. ~ ' ORDINM~CE NO. 915 j , . AN ORDINANCE CREATING CHAPTER T8'-A, "PIPELINE TRANSPORTATION", OF rHE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS; RE- QUIRING A PERMIT TO LAY OR REPLACE PIPELINES; PRESCRIBING FEES FOR SqCH PERMITS~ REQUIRING REGISTRATION OF EXISTING AND PROPOSED LINES;" MAKING CERTAIN EXC~PTIONS; SHUT-OFF VALVE OPERATION; PROVID+NG PENALTIES; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE; PROVIDING A REPEALiNG CLAUSE; CONTAINING A SAVINGS CALUSE; AND PROVIDING SEVERAB~LITY. ~ BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE: Section 1. Chapter l8-A of the Code of Ordinances is hereby enacted to read, and shall 'hereafter read" as' follows: "CHAPTER l8-A" PIPELINE TRANSPORTATION . SECTION18-A-l. Definition of Terms. All terms used herein shall be taken in their ordinary signification except the following: Commodity - Any subs~ance capable of being transmitted through a pipeline which is, or may become, flammable, toxic or otherwise hazardous to' human, animal or plant health and/or life. Pipeline - A line of pipe with pumps, valves and control devices for conveying a commodity or commodities. Shut-Off Valve - Any device installed in a pipeline and used to stop the conveyance of a cornmedity or commodit{es through a pipeline. .. SECT'ION l8-A-2. " Permit ,Required. No person, firm or corporation .shall lay any pip~1.in~!, nor shall an existing pipeline be entirely repl~ced, a~ross,' . , . . or along ~nd. under the public streets, highways, sidewalks, ;~~ parks, public squares, and/or public places within~the City of La Porte, .unles~. and ,until a pE;l;rmit l:;1~as been obtained for such pipeline under the terms of tpis Chapter. , "\ ..,! SECTION l8-A-3. Trunk Line Permit - To be granted by. 0rdinance; dept~ of pipes. A permit to lay or c~nstruct a trunk pipel~ne across or ,( along~and under any $tre~t or'streets in the City shall only be' -- - gJ:an~ed by Ordinanee "wh,ich srhall sta1;e the streets across or along ,and under.- w~i,qA ,;t:-pe pir>eline is to be laid and shall .... ... ~ 0' .' . . Ordinance No. 915 , Page 2. '.- state with particularity the point or points at which the pipe- line will cross or run along and under any such street. No such permit will be granted nor any such ordinance passed unless so much of the entire pipeline as is proposed to be laid through or under any undeveloped or unplatted area within the limits of the city is to be buried and laid to a depth of at least four (4) feet measured between the top of the line and the natural surface of the ground provided that at any point or points where such line is to cross or run along and under an existing street or streets and/or any proposed street which .' has been designated on the Master Plan for the City of La Porte or the official city map of the City of La Porte, said line must be buried to a depth of at least six (6) feet measured between the top of the line and the natural surface of the ground. Pro- vided further, if at any particular point or points the City's Director of Public Works recommends that a greater or lesser depth be required, if known and reasonable facts presented show that the recommendation is prudent and reasonable, such permit will not be granted except upon agreement by the permittee to comply with such required depth. .. SECTION l8-A-4. Same - ApElication for permit; submitting plans; reEort to Commission. Any person desiring to construct any trunk pipeline across or along and under any street within the limits of the city shall first submit to the City's Director of Public Works a plan accurately showing the proposed location, course and alignment of the proposed pipeline, accompanied by a written application for the passage of an ordinance as hereinabove provided, which application shall show (unless the same are sufficiently shown on the plan) the time, manner, means and methods of the proposed construction, the particular commodity proposed to be transported . through such line and the maximum pressure and maximum tempera- ture under which the same may be pumped or otherwise caused or . . Ordinance No. 915 , Page 3. '. permitted to flow through any and all of the particular por- tions of the line. Such plan, which shall consist not only of the plan but also of a suitable alignment map as drawn for the applicant for its own records, shall accurately show the loca- tion of all existing streets, all proposed streets designated on Master Plan for the City of La Porte or on the official map of the City of La Porte across or along and under which the pipeline is intended to be laid. Two copies thereof and of the application shall be presented to the City's Director of Public Works. The Director of Public Works shall report to the City ... Commission upon his examination of such application and plans (including such changes in the plans as the applicant may have made upon his suggestion) with his recommendations as to the granting or denying of the application. He shall, in his report and recommendation, state whether the depth or depths at which it is proposed to be laid through undeveloped or unplatted areas is, to the extent economically feasible, consistent with the probable future development of such areas and with the probable location of and opening of future streets and the probable laying of water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer lines incident to such probable future development. ..'~.. SECTION l8-A-5. Same - Permit fees. Every such ordinance granted for the carrying of trunk pipelines under city streets shall provide that the permittee pay to the city an initial permit fee in the amount of Three Hundred and No/lOO ($300.00) Dollars and shall further provide for the payment of an annual fee thereafter in the amount of Two Hundred and No/100 ($200.00) Dollars per year, payable annually in advance each year that said pipeline is in opera- tion, on or before the anniversary date of the final passage of the ordinance granting such permit. .' " ..,,' SECTION l8-A-6. Conditions im osed by ordinances; savin City harm ess, epressl.ons, repal.ring streets. The ordinance granting any permit shall require the permittee .~, -e . ..- '~ , \\ . . Ordinance No. 915 P 4 , age . to save the city harmless from liability for injury or damage to any person or persons- or property caused by the construction, maintenance, operation, repair or removal of any part or all of such pipeline within the right-of-way of any street of the city, whether existing at the time such ordinance is pass.ed or there- after dedicated or otherwise coming into existence; and shall require the permittee to pay to the City all damages caused to the City or any of' its agencies by the construction, maintenance, operation, repair or removal of such pipeline or any part thereof. Such ordinance shall further require the permittee to refill all excavations made by it within the right-of-way of any unimproved (unpaved) street, whether existing at the time such ordinance is passed or thereafter dedicated or otherwise corning into existence, in the construction, operating, maintain- ing or removing of such pipeline'or any part thereof; and if after once refilling such excavation the earth within the excavated area settles so as to leave a depression, the permittee shall be required to make further necessary fills from time to time as ordered by the City Director of Public Works or by the City Commission. The permittee will be required by such ordi- nance to repair all portions of any street across or along and under which its such line is laid and place the same in as good a state of repair and condition as they were in at the time the construction, repair or removal was commenced, such repairs to be to the satisfaction of the City Commission. Such ordinance shall further require that all such work of repairing or refill- ing shall be done under plans and specifications approved by the Director of Public Works and subject to his approval of the completed work; provided, however, no open cuts of paved streets and alleys shall be permitted, and the permittee shall tunnel and bore under said paved streets and alleys; and, provided further, all pipelines laid in public rights of way shall be installed in casing. Except in an emergency, the permittee shall notify the City's Director of Public Works before commencing . . Ordinance No. 915 , Page 5. . at any time excavation in any portion of any said unpaved or unim- proved street, and shall not wholly close any street, but shall at all times maintain a route of travel along and within such roadway area which shall include any sidewalk area, except in the event of an emergency, it being evident that immediate action is necessary for protection of the public and to minimize property damage and loss of investment, permittee may, at its own responsi- bility and risk make necessary emergency repairs, notifying the City's Director of Public Works and the Mayor o~ the City Commis- sion of this action in writing, as soon as practical. Such ordi- . nance shall also provide that in the event the permittee fails to commence or thereafter to diligently prosecute any repair, refill- ing or other work required to be done by it within a reasonable time after being notified to do so by the City's Director of Public Works, the City may cause such work to be done at the ex- pense of the permittee and may recover all such expense from the permittee together with all costs and reasonable attorney's fees. SECTION 18-A-7. Effect of Article This Chapter shall not apply to or affect, any corporation now or hereafter providing natural gas service to the inhabitants . of the City of La Porte pursuant to a franchise granted to such corporation under the authority of the Charter of the Ci~y of La Porte as a gas distribution utility. SECTION l8-A-8. Registration of pipelines' The owner of every pipeline now located across or along and under the public streets, highways, sidewalks, parks, public squares and/or public places within~e City of La Porte and the owner of any pipeline constructed, or replaced under a permit .. ~~ hereinafter granted under the terms of this Chapter shall prepare and file with the City Building Official on or before December 31, 1972, three (3) official, scaled, City of La Porte, Texas street maps as currently revised by the City Engineer, upon , , which the owner shall fully dellrteate ,the~area within the City's corporate liJnits traversed by the existing or 'proposed pipeline with the .. .. '.., .,. . . Ordinance No. 915 , Page 6. route, distances and shut-off valve locations clearly and indeli- bly drawn thereon together with the name and mailing address of the owner and the telephone number of at least one (1) officer or person available on a twenty-four (24) hour basis who can furnish or obtain immediately, information as to the pressure at the point or points of input nearest to the City and the common name of the commodity carried by the pipeline or pipe- lines of such owner. Immediately upon receipt of said maps the City Building Official shall transmit one (1) copy to the City Director of Public Works, one (1) copy to the City of La Porte Fire Department, and shall retain one (1) copy in his files. The Building Official shall issue a receipt for each registration filed. Any change in the twenty-four (24) hour contact informa- tion must be promptly reported, to the City Fire Department. SECTION l8-A-9. Pipeline signs. Every pipeline, new or existing, within the corporate limits of the city shall bear at all times, in plain, indelible lettering, signs denoting the ownership of said pipeline, permanently affixed in the pipeline right-of-way. No person, except the owner, or his or its duly authorized agent, shall tamper with or remove any such sign. SECTION l8-A-lO. Exceptions. Those lands within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City, which have been heretofore, or which may hereafter be, declared industrial districts by the City Commission under the Texas Municipal Annexation Act, are wholly occupied by and subject to industrial development and, therefore, pipelines within said lands are excepted from the operation and effect of this ordinance. SECTION l8-A-ll. Shut-off valve operation; 'excavation and construction on or across pipelines. , No person shall turn off, on, or otherwise operate or tamper with any pipeline shut-off valve within the City's ,t"'",'- --,'- ./1. '\ -' -- "~ ~"""" . ~.-' . . Ordinance No. 915 , Page 7. corporate limits unless such person be an employee of the owner or operator of said pipeline or a duly authorized agent of such owner or operator. No person, other than the owner of the pipeline or his or its duly authorized agent, shall excavate over or change the grade of, operate on or construct anything on or across the right-of-way of any pipeline without first notifying the Director of Public Works and the owner of the pipeline and giving them reasonable opportunity to have an observer present during such activity. SECTION l8-A-12. Penalties. Any violation of any section, subsection, or part of this ordinance shall be deemed a misdemeanor and such violation thereof during all or any portion of any day shall be a separate offense and misdemeanor; and, upon final conviction, every person, firm, association, corporation or partnership guilty of such violation shall be fined in a sum not more than Two Hundred ($200.00) Dollars. Section 2. Repealing. All ordinances in force when this ordinance becomes effective and which ordinances are inconsistent herewith or in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed insofar as said ordinances are inconsistent or in conflict with this ordi- nance. Section 3. Savings clause. All rights and remedies which have accrued for or in behalf of the City of La Porte under any statute, ordinance, rule or regulation, or contract shall be and are hereby preserved for the benefit of the City of La Porte. Section 4. Severability. The City Commission of the City of La Porte, Texas, does hereby declare that if any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase, word or portion of this ordinance is declared invalid or unconstitutional by final judgment of a '. ' ' .' '. . , '. . Ordinance No. 915 P 8 , age . court of competent jurisdiction that, in such event, it would have passed and ordained any and all remaining portions of this Ordinance without the inclusion of that portion or por- tions which may be so found to be invalid or unconstitutional and declares that its intent is to make no portion of this ordinance dependent upon the validity of any other portion thereof and that all said remaining portions shall remain and contimue' in full force and effect. Section 5. Effective date. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage, approval, and publication as required by law. PASSED and APPROVED~ this the 6th day of March 1972. ':' i,,) I'"~ ~ ".' ~. G:;' ~ . ::7 a2E;L~ H. ~os smith, Mayor ~, ... ./- v' -. ; ....., !;-.;, AP~ dJ aJ . . Ci Y Attorney