CITY OF
ORDINANCE NUMBER
RESPECTING POLES AND WIRES IN THE STREETS
1. In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) the expression "owner" means any person or company owning or operating, whether as
owner or lessee, any line of poles and wires in any street;
(b) the expression "engineer" means the Commissioner of Works and City Engineer of the
City;
(c) The expression "street" includes any street, lane, square or other public place.
2. This Ordinance shall apply to any person, firm, or company constructing, maintaining, or
operating a line of poles and wires in any street.
3. All poles, pole lines, and wire lines for the transmission of electric current in the City shall be
subject to any regulations from time to time made respecting them by the Board of Commissioners of
Public Utilities under the authority of Section of the Public Utilities Act ( ), and in the case of any
conflict between any provision in this Ordinance and any such regulation now or hereafter in force, the said
regulation shall prevail.
4. The engineer shall have the supervision of all poles, electric and other metallic wires erected in,
upon, or over any street or public place in the City, and whenever this Ordinance provides that any work,
material, article or thing is to be subject to approval, such approval shall be given by the engineer and all
work must be satisfactory to him.
5. All wires shall be divided into two (2) classes: First - wires for telegraph, telephone, or other similar service;
Second - wires for electric light, power, or other similar service;
Third - wires for the transmission of electronic impulses, signals and messages of every nature and
kind including those of alarm and protective systems, radio programs or parts thereof or television
programs or parts thereof.
6. Two lines of poles bearing conductors of a like class shall not be erected or permitted on any
street.
7. Two lines of poles shall not be erected on the same side of the street.
8. No pole shall be erected except on a permit from the engineer, and on such conditions as he
specifies in the permit, and all poles must be satisfactory to him.
9. Poles shall be set in the sidewalk as near the curb as possible, unless otherwise directed by the
engineer, and shall be maintained in a position as nearly perpendicular as possible. All poles shall be
erected only in such places as the engineer indicated and approves.
10. All poles shall be of cedar or of such other materials as the engineer approves, perfectly sound and
good in every respect, free from defects and substantially straight from end to end. All bark must be
removed above the ground line. The face or surface of each pole must be made smooth and regular either
by the use of a plane or in some other manner. Poles must be of uniform height and kept in line with each
other ( ).
11. No pole shall be more than eighteen inches in diameter at the ground line or less than five inches
in diameter at the top. In all cases where directed by the engineer square poles shall be erected. As soon as
they are placed in position all new poles erected shall receive two coats of paint in such colors as are
approved, and all poles shall receive an additional coat of paint on or before the first day of June in each
year.
12. All poles carrying more than two wires shall be of such height as approved. All poles for carrying
not more than two wires shall be at least twenty-five feet in height. When directed by the engineer, or
when required to clear trees, houses or other lines of wires or any other obstruction or thing which comes in
close proximity thereto, poles shall be of such height as the engineer deems necessary. All poles shall be
sunk to such depth as the engineer considers necessary, but no pole shall be sunk to a depth of less than five
feet below the grade line of the sidewalk.
13. Every line of poles must be run on one side of the street only, except when absolutely necessary to
change to the other side, but such change may be made only by the permission of the engineer.
14. When a pole is taken down, it must be removed from the street the same day.
15. New poles must not be deposited on any street more than three (3) days in advance of their
erection.
16. All broken and dead wires, and all wires, poles and fixtures not actually in use, must be removed
by the owner, unless permitted to remain by the engineer.
17. Any broken pole or dead wire that is on any street more than three (3) days may be removed by
the engineer at the expense of the company owning it after three days' notice to remove the same.
18. Any pole now erected or hereafter to be erected which is deemed by the engineer insufficient in
any respect, or not in accordance with this Ordinance, shall be taken out and replaced to his satisfaction by
the owner of such pole, and all existing poles which he considers are not required shall be removed without
delay at the expense of the owner of such poles after the ten (10) days notice.
19. Every line, pole or other fixture must be kept in thorough order and repair and in conformity with
this ordinance under penalty not exceeding forty dollars, but no additional poles shall be erected under
cover of repairs, nor shall any route or location be changed without a permit, and no pole shall be renewed
or repaired, nor shall the location of any pole be changed except upon due notice to any other company
using such pole.
20. The location of any pole shall be changed or altered whenever deemed necessary by the engineer,
and whenever the engineer orders such changes of location it shall be done by the owner thereof without
unnecessary delay and at his expense, or it may be done by the engineer at the expense of the owner.
21. The surface of sidewalks covered with brick, concrete, asphalt, flags, or other permanent material
shall not be broken for the purpose of erecting, removing, repairing, renewing or altering the position of a
pole without a permit from the engineer, and then only on such conditions as the engineer provides in such
permit.
22. Every person who removes any pole shall remove every part thereof including the portion below
the grade line of the sidewalk of any street upon which the same has been erected, and shall properly fill in
and replace the surface of covering of such sidewalk without unnecessary delay.
23. The surface of the ground or pavement, wherever disturbed in the erection, renewal or removal of
any pole, must be restored and made good and maintained for six months to the satisfaction of the engineer,
otherwise he may, without notice to the owner of the pole, make such repairs as he considers necessary in
restoring and maintaining the street, sidewalk, curb, gutter or pavement in a neat and proper condition, and
the whole cost incurred shall be paid by the person or company which occasioned the damage or
expenditure.
24. The dimensions of cross-arms shall be as nearly uniform as possible. They shall be strengthened
by braces when considered necessary by the engineer and painted the same color as the tops of the poles.
The lowest cross-arm shall not be less than twenty-two feet above the ground.
25. When a pole is occupied by wires belonging to more than one company, every cross-arm owned,
or occupied by any company other than the owner of the pole, shall be painted or stamped with the initials
of the company owning it.
26. All connections with lines of electric light or power conductors shall be made as nearly at right
angles to the same as possible, and connections of all wires to buildings shall be run straight across the
street and then down the front of the building. Except with the approval of the engineer, no wire shall cross
the street at a less height than twenty-six feet above the center of the street on any street through which the
trolley wire is carried. Whenever the engineer considers it advisable, wires of different companies at street
intersections or other crossings shall cross on the same pole.
27. All circuits must be frequently tested and be maintained as free from ground connections as
possible.
28. Where unused loops from electric light circuits are allowed to remain after lamps are taken away
the joint in the loop must be as well insulated as the line itself.
29. No person or company shall suffer or permit any other person or company to place or keep wires
on any pole or poles owned by him or it or upon the fixtures thereto attached without permission being first
obtained in writing from the engineer.
30. Every person or company owning poles or lines of poles and wires on or over the street of the City
shall, at the coming into force of this ordinance make an application to the engineer for a permit for
continuing such poles or lines of poles as already exist. Such application shall show the number and
location of such poles.
31. The engineer may grant a permit on such conditions, as he deems necessary for the continuance of
not more than one line of poles on any street for wires of a similar class.
32. On every street on which there exists at the time of the coming into force of this ordinance, only
one line of poles for each class of wires, the company owning such line shall continue to own the same so
long as the company requires to use it for its own purposes; but if at any time, the company ceases to
occupy any such pole or line for its own purposes, the City shall have the right to take and appropriate such
pole or line of poles to its own use, or to hand them over to any other company for its use, at a valuation or
price to be mutually agreed upon between the owner of the poles and the City, and on failure to agree, the
price shall be fixed by arbitration, one arbitrator to be appointed by the Mayor of the City, and the other by
the president or manager of the company owning the poles; the two arbitrators so nominated to nominate a
third, or, if they are unable to agree, such third arbitrator shall be appointed by a judge of the Supreme
Court. In case of disagreement the award of any two of the arbitrators shall be final and conclusive as to
the price to be paid by the City for the poles.
33. Where there are two lines of poles for wires of the same class on any street owned by different
companies, the engineer shall issue a permit to the owner of the pole or line of poles which he considers
most suitable for the purposes for which they are required. Should neither of the lines be considered
suitable, a permit shall be given to the company showing priority of location (to be decided by the
engineer) and in such cases, the company receiving the permit shall be the owner of the poles erected under
such permit so long as it requires them for its own purposes, the City shall have the right to take and
appropriate the same in the same manner as in the next preceding section.
34. Any company requiring the use of a pole or line of poles belonging to another company shall on
receiving a permit from the engineer affix the necessary cross-arms and pins after due notice to the
company which owns the pole or poles. The cross-arms and pins shall be placed in such locations on the
pole or poles as are agreed upon by the companies interested, or in the event of failure to agree in such
locations, as the engineer deems best. Any company requiring the use of a pole belonging to another
company for a stay pole, shall obtain a permit from the engineer, and shall keep such stay pole as nearly
perpendicular as possible as long as it is used by such company as a stay pole. The company owning a pole
shall receive from any other company requiring its use for any purposes such sum as agreed upon by the
companies interested, or in the event of failure to agree such sum as the engineer deems proper.
35. Any company requiring the use of a pole owned by another company which is not high enough, or
for any other reason will not afford the accommodation required, may replace such pole by another pole, at
the expense of the company requiring same. Such new pole shall become the property of the company
owning the original pole, and the company placing the new pole shall be responsible for all damage done in
making the change.
36. Within a reasonable time (such reasonable time to be determined by the engineer) after the issuing
of a permit for existing line or relocation of existing lines, all wires shall be shifted when considered
necessary by the engineer to the poles or lines of poles for which such permit has been issued, and in the
case of refusal or neglect by any company after ten (10) days' notice served on the Manager of such
company requiring it to shift its wires, or to permit any wires to be placed on its poles then directed by the
engineer, the engineer may shift any wire which he considers necessary to shift at the expense of the
company owning such wire, and such expense may be recovered by the City from the owner of the wire.
37. (1) Every company owning poles shall allow the City free of all charge the exclusive use of a
portion of each poles and one cross- arm or more as may be required (the same to be placed and maintained
by the company) for the purpose of placing and maintaining thereon any wires required by the City, such
cross-arm or cross-arms to be located on the pole as to position in accordance with the recognized rules and
regulations of authorities having jurisdiction in the City of pertaining to such matters.(2) Every company owning poles shall allow the City free of all charge the use of a portion
of each pole for the purpose of erecting and maintaining thereon fire alarm signal boxes and other signal
boxes and lights, and also the conduits, feed wires, ground wires, cables and other appurtenances that may
be necessary to attach to such signal boxes.
(3) Every company owning poles shall allow the City free of all charge the use of a portion
of each pole directly above, the fire alarm signal box where installed thereon to paint in any color a marker
or band completely around the pole two feet in width or less for the purpose of calling the public's attention
to the location of a fire alarm signal box on such pole.
(4) Every company owning poles shall allow the City free of all charges the use of a portion
of each pole for the purpose of erecting and maintaining thereon all street lighting equipment owned by the
City, including fixtures, transformers, conduits, pins, feed wires, and other appurtenances thereto.
38. When required by the engineer, every company owning poles shall file in the office of the
engineer such records of the poles, wires and fixtures owned by it, as he requires.
39. When required by the engineer, any company owning wires shall gather and place in aerial cable-
lines any wires to the number of twenty-five or more in each cable in any street, according to the direction
of the engineer, and within such time and in such manner and at such height as he directs; but no company
shall be required to construct more than three thousand feet of cable line in one year, except when the
engineer considers it necessary in order to permit any other company to comply with this ordinance.
39A. No poles or wires shall be erected or maintained on that part of Road between and
Street nor within two hundred of said road, except that poles for carrying lights may be erected and
maintained provided such poles are of the design and located to the approval of the City Engineer.
40. No person shall put or place, or allow to be put or placed on any telegraph, telephone, electric light
or other pole erected within the City for the carriage of electric wires, any advertisement, poster, placard or
anything whatsoever except the wires and fixtures thereto attached.
41. Every person, company, corporation, or lessee erecting or using poles shall obey and carry into
effect any instructions, respecting them given by the Council, Committee on Works, Mayor or Engineer,
under the provisions of any enactment in that behalf or this Ordinance; and after failure to comply with
such instructions within the time specified therein, the engineer may cut down or remove the poles failing
to comply, or any of them from the street, and may sever all wires which are attached thereto and remove
the same, and the City shall not be liable to the owners of such poles or wires for any loss, damage or injury
sustained in consequence of such cutting down and removal.
42. Every person or company who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of this ordinance
in respect to which no penalty is provided shall, for each such offence, be liable to a penalty not exceeding
eighty dollars, and each day on which such contravention or failure continues shall constitute a separate
offense.
Clause (b) of Section 1"Engineer" now "Commissioner of Works and City Engineer" passed City Council , 19
Approved ., , 1941
Section repealed and substituted therefore Passed Council , and , 19
Approved by .: , 19