23-1082FILE REFERENCE FORM
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ORD[NANCE NO. 23-1082
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON AMENDING THE PROVISIONS OF
CHAPTER 26, ARTICLE XI, “MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS,” OF THE CODE OF
ORDrNANCES BY CREATING DIVISION 3, ENTITLED “UNIFORM VEGETATION
MANAGEMENT STANDARDS FOR USE AND OCCUPANCY OF PUBLIC RIGHTS OF
WAY BY TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND FIBER COMPANIES”; PROVIDING FOR
CODIFICATION; CREATING A VIOLATION FOR NON-PERFORMANCE; AND
PROVID[NG AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the Texas Utilities Code Section 66.011(a) provides that “[a] municipality
may enforce police power-based regulations in the management of a public right-of-way that apply
to the holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority”; and
WHEREAS, Section 66.011 also provides that a “municipality may enforce police power-
based regulations in the management of the activities... to the extent that they are reasonably
necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public” and as long as the regulation is
competitively neutral and not unreasonable or discriminatory; and
WHEREAS, reporting has shown a connection between icing caused by winter weather on
trees located adjacent to power lines and downed power lines, the city believes it is reasonably
necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public through administratively requiring
telecommunication and fiber companies to adhere to a standard set of vegetation management
requirements; and
WHEREAS, on June 6, 2023, the City adopted Resolution No. 23-774 establishing the City
of Denton Vegetation Management Program by which a standard has been set providing for the
appropriate way and method to address vegetation in relation to fiber and telecommunication
companies utilizing structures within the public right-of-way within the territorial limits of the City
of Denton; and
WHEREAS, the City finds that, in order to properly address these potential issues in the
future, the codification on the process by which the Denton Vegetation Management Program
operates must be established to clarify the City’s police power based regulation on
telecommunication and fiber companies activities relating to vegetation in and around wood poles
or other structures within the right of way within the territorial limits of the city of Denton order
to comply with the Texas Utilities Code; and
WHEREAS, the City desires to establish City Manager authority to administer and
establish charges, fees, and penalties to be levied upon telecommunication and fiber companies
who do not comply with City of Denton Vegetation Management Program standards;
NOW THEREFORE,
THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY ORDA[NS:
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SECTION 1. The City of Denton City Council finds the recitations contained in the
preamble of this ordinance are incorporated herein by reference as true and as if fully set forth in
the body of this ordinance.
SECTION 2. Article Xl, “Miscellaneous Provisions” of Chapter 26 of the Denton Code
of Ordinances is hereby amended to add Division 3 “Uniform Vegetation Management Standards
for Use and Occupancy of Public Rights of Way by Telecommunications and Fiber Companies.”
SECTION 3. Chapter 26, Article XI is amended to add Division 3, to read:
Section 26-280- Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a competitively neutral policy for the use of
public rights-of-way for the provision of telecommunications services and to:
(A)
(B)
(C)
Assist in the management of the rights-of-way;
Govern the use and occupancy of the rights-of-way by telecommunications
service and fiber company providers; and
Secure fair and reasonable compensation for the use and occupancy of the rights-
of-way by telecommunications service providers in a non-discriminatory and
competitively neutral manner.
Section 26-281. Applicability
Provisions of this Division have been implemented to require adherence by
telecommunications and fiber companies who utilize wood poles or other structures within the
City of Denton to adhere to the City of Denton vegetation management program, as amended from
time to time, and to provide for the implementation of all processes, charges, fees, and penalties
as identified to assure vegetation management requirements are followed by telecommunications
and fiber companies who operate within the City of Denton.
Section 26-282- Definitions
Whenever used in this chapter, the following terms, as well as their singuiars, plurals, and
possessives, shall have the following definitions and meanings, unless the context of the sentence
in which they are used indicates otherwise :
ACCESS LINE.
(A)Each switched transmission path of the transmission media within the rights-of-way
extended to the end-user customer’s premises network interface within the city that allows
delivery of telecommunications service;
(B) Each loop provided as an unbundled network element to a person pursuant to an agreement
under § 252 of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996; and
(C) Each termination point of a non-switched telephone circuit consisting of transmission
media connecting specific locations identified by, and provided to, the end user for the
delivery of non-switched telecommunications service within the city.
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CABLE SERVICE. As defined in the ''Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984”, as amended,
47 U.S.C. § 532 et seq.
DIRECTION OF THE CITY. All ordinances, laws, rules, resolutions, and regulations of the City
of Denton that are not inconsistent with this Division and that are now in force or may hereafter
be passed and adopted.
FACILITIES. Any and all of the duct spaces, manholes, poles, conduits, underground and
overhead passageways, and other equipment, structures, plants, and appurtenances and all
associated Transmission Media used for the provision of telecommunications service.
FIBER (_'OMPANY. means a company that installs fiber-optic cable and connectors in order to
provide a connectivity service to an end user.
PERMIT HOLDER. Any telecommunications service provider issued a permit pursuant to the
terms of this chapter.
PERSON. A natural person (an individual), corporation, company, association, partnership, firm,
limited liability company, joint venture, joint stock company or association, and other such entity.
PROVIDER. Shall mean any person who owns, operates, or otherwise controls a
telecommunications company or fiber company system within the City of Denton.
RIGHTS-OF-WAY. All present and future public streets, avenues, highways, alleys, sidewalks,
boulevards, drives, tunnels, easements, bridges, and other such similar passageways,
thoroughfares, and public ways within the city.
TELE(_'OMMUNICATIONS COMPANY- means (i) a certificated telecommunications utility;
(ii) a shared tenant service provider; (iii) a nondominant carrier of telecommunications services;
(iv) a provider of commercial mobile service as defined by Section 332(d), Communications Act
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. Section 151 et seq.), Federal Communications Commission rules, and the
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-66), except that the term does not
include these entities for the purposes of Chapter 17, 55, or 64; (v) a telecommunications entity
that provides central office based PBX-type sharing or resale arrangements; (vi) an interexchange
telecommunications carrier; (vii) a specialized common carrier; (viii) a reseller of
communications; (ix) a provider of operator services; (x) a provider of customer-owned pay
telephone service; or (xi) a person or entity determined by the commission to provide
telecommunications services to customers in this state.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE. The transmittal of voice, data, image, graphics and other
communications between or among points by wire, fiber optics, or other similar facilities, as well
as the rental, lease, or furnishing of the facilities to accomplish such transmittal, but does not
include transmissions for long distance purposes (interLATA and intraLATA) or any “wireless
service” as defined by law.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDER. Any person that supplies
telecommunications service to others within the corporate limits of the city in exchange for money
or other value.
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS UTILITY. “Telecommunications utility” as used in the Public
Utility Regulatory Act of 1995, Tex. Utilities Code Ann. § 51.002(11).
TRANSMISSION MEDIA. Any and all of the cables, fibers, wires, or other physical devices
owned, maintained or placed by a permit holder to transmit and/or receive communication signals,
whether analog, digital or of other characteristics, and whether for voice, data or other purposes.
USE AND OCCUPANCY. The permit holder’s acquisition, installation, construction,
reconstruction, maintenance, repair, control, or operation of any facilities within the rights-of-way
for any purpose whatsoever.
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT STANDARDS-means the uniform set of standards relevant to
vegetation management related to electric utility assets within the rights-of-way or easement,
established setbacks, and other lands owned or controlled by the City of Denton and expressly
adopted by Resolution 23-744 approved June 6, 2023, as may be amended from time to time.
Section 26-282- Relocation and removal of facilities.
(A)in accordance with Tex. Utilities Code Ann. § 54.203(c), upon 30 days’ notice by the
City, the permit holder shall begin relocation of its facilities within the rights -of-way at
its own expense to permit the widening or straightening of streets. The notice by the City
shall include a specification of the new location for the permit holder’s facilities along
the rights-of-way.
(B) Upon reasonable notice and request from the City, the permit holder shall begin
relocation of its facilities, to include relocating to underground facilities, within the
rights-of-way at its own expense to permit rework, repair and/or reconstruction of streets
or drainage mechanisms within the rights-of-way.
(C)The City retains the right to move any facilities within the rights-of-way to cure or
otherwise address a public health or safety emergency or to ensure compliance with
applicable law. The City shall cooperate to the extent possible with the permit holder in
such instances to assure continuity of service and to afford to the permit holder the
opportunity to make such relocation itself.
Section 26-283 Penalties
(A) it shall be the duty of a provider, as defined hereunder, to adhere to the standards provided
by the City of Denton Vegetation Management Standard Program, as may be amended
from time to time. Providers shall commence trimming trees that overhang into the public
rights-of-way within ten (10) business days after notice and to complete the same without
delay. Upon failure to do so, such persons are guilty of an offense. In addition, City
Manager or designee, shall proceed to take down and remove such vegetation from poles,
wires and fixtures at the cost and expense of such providers and the same shall be a charge
against them and may be sued for and recovered by the City in any court of competent
jurisdiction.
(B) if the City Manager, or their designee, determines during construction that an emergency
repair to a public right-of-way is necessary to correct a situation that is hazardous to the
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public, the City Manager, or designee, shall immediately notify the provider. If the provider
does not commence the emergency repair promptly, the City Manager, or designee, may,
in their sole discretion, cause performance of such emergency repair work as is necessary
to correct the hazardous situation. The provider shall reimburse the City for the actual direct
and indirect costs of the work necessary to correct the hazardous situation, including
cleanup. The provider shall maintain the emergency repair until the permittee completes
final repairs.
(C) A person violating a provision of this Division is guilty of a separate offense for each day
or part of a day during which the violation is committed, continued or permitted;
(D) Any person violating any of the provisions of the Division shall, upon conviction of any
provision, be fined a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00).
SECTION 5. If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word in this
ordinance, or application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid by any court of
competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this
ordinance, and the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas hereby declares it would have enacted
such remaining portions despite any invalidity.
SECTION 6. Save and except as amended hereby, all the provisions, sections, subsections
paragraphs, sentences, clauses, and phrases of the Code of Ordinances shall remain in full force
and effect.
SECTION 7. Any person found guilty of violating this ordinance by a court of competent
jurisdiction shall be fined a sum not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per day. Each day that
a provision of this ordinance is violated shall constitute a separate offense.
SECTION 8. This ordinance providing for a penalty shall become effective 14 days from
the date of its passage, and the City Secretary is hereby directed to cause the caption of this
ordinance to be published twice in the Denton Record- Chronicle, the official newspaper of the
City of Denton, Texas, within 10 days of the date of its passage. Upon the effective date of this
ordinance, the City Secretary shall cause the codification of the provisions contained herein into
the City of Denton Code of Ordinances.
SECTION 9. This ordinance shall become effective immediately upon its passage and
approval.
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The modR==pg::Iis ordinance w: ihT::i: ince £Tp\ssH Id Jp'p loved by tEa==Let It:
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Nay Abstain Absent
Mayor Gerard Hudspeth:
Vicki Byrd, District 1 :
Brian Beck, District 2:
Paul Mehzer, District 3 :
Joe Holland, District 4:
Brandon Chase McGee, At Large Place 5 :
Chris Watts, At Large Place 6:I
PASSED AND APPROVED thi, th, Iq+h d,y of See Amber _, 2023.
GERARD HUDSPETH, MAYOR
ATTEST:
JESUS SALAZAR, CITY SECRETARY L\\\1111111/
APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM:
MACK REINWAND, CITY ATTORNEY
BY: &-’-'"’qrh"'- fI BE#='*
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