Article 5. Permitted Use Of Improvements of California Public Utilities Code >> Division 5. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 5.

This article is intended to provide a means of making the work and improvements herein mentioned useful and beneficial to the lands or property assessed to pay the costs and expenses of the construction thereof. The powers herein granted are supplemental to any other powers granted by law to any county or city, and this article does not repeal any other powers to use or utilize such work or improvements.

When any legislative body elects to proceed under this article, the provisions hereof only shall apply and the limitations herein shall be followed.

This article and all of its provisions shall be liberally construed to the end that the purposes hereof may be effective.

"District," as used in this article, includes any district for which the legislative body of any county or city may make contracts.

Whenever, under any street improvement act under which public work or improvements may be installed or constructed and the costs and expenses assessed in whole or in part against the lands or property benefited, there have been installed or constructed within any city or within the unincorporated territory of any county any wells, pumps, dams, reservoirs, storage tanks, channels, tunnels, conduits, pipes, hydrants, meters, or other appurtenances for supplying or distributing a domestic water supply, or all or any combinations thereof, and whenever there have been installed or constructed within any city or within the unincorporated territory of any county any mains, services, pipes, fittings, valves, regulators, governors, meters, drips, drains, tanks, ditches, tunnels, conduits, channels, or other appurtenances for supplying or distributing a domestic or industrial gas supply, or all or any combinations thereof, and no provision has been made for the maintenance, operation, and use of the work or improvement constructed, and the city owns no plant or system which can conveniently furnish water or gas, or the county owns no plant or system which can conveniently furnish the water or gas, the legislative body of the city or county, as the case may be, may grant permission to furnish water or gas therefor to any district, public corporation, mutual company, public utility company, private company, or individual.

Before granting such permission the legislative body of the county or city shall find that the public interest, convenience, and necessity require that the work or improvement be used, that water or gas is necessary therefor, and that a certain, named, district, public corporation, mutual company, public utility company, private corporation, or individual can most conveniently furnish water or gas. Thereupon the county or city may grant to such district, public corporation, mutual company, public utility company, private corporation, or individual the right to attach his lines or system to the work or improvement, and to furnish water or gas through the work or improvement to all lands which were assessed to pay the costs and expenses of constructing the work or improvement.

The permission shall be signed by the mayor or other chief executive of the city or by the chairman of the board of supervisors of a county, and by the person or authorized officers of the permittee.

The permission shall state the time for which it is given, which shall not exceed two years, and describe the work or improvement for which it is given, and shall require the permittee to maintain the work or improvement during the term of the permission, and to make all necessary repairs thereto during such term, and to furnish gas or water, as the case may be, to all lands assessed to pay all or any part of the costs and expenses of the work or improvement.

If any extensions of or additional installations for the work or improvement are necessary in order to serve all of the lands required to be served, the permittee shall not be obligated to make such extensions or additional installations, but shall permit any owner of such land to make the extensions and installations under reasonable regulations to be fixed by the city engineer or county surveyor, to attach them to the work or improvement, and to receive gas or water therefrom.

The permission shall provide that the charge made by the permittee for gas or water shall not be greater than the charge therefor made by the permittee for such service elsewhere, and shall provide that the permittee shall pay a reasonable charge, to be determined by the legislative body granting the permission, for the use of the work or improvement. Such rental shall be paid to the treasurer of the county or city at least semiannually and placed in a special fund, which shall be used for the improvement or replacement of the work or improvement or any part thereof.

The permission granted under this article to a private corporation or individual, not a public utility, and the furnishing of gas or water thereunder shall not be construed as a holding out or undertaking of such corporation or individual to serve any and all persons or as constituting the corporation or individual a public utility or as being any evidence thereof.

The permission shall expressly reserve to the legislative body granting it the right to terminate it whenever the city or county can conveniently furnish gas or water. If so terminated, the county or city shall thereafter furnish such gas or water.

The permission shall provide that if any district or public corporation is formed or extended, and if the district or public corporation can conveniently serve the territory with gas or water, any permission granted to any public utility, private corporation, or individual may be terminated by the legislative body. If permission is so terminated, the legislative body may grant permission to use the work or improvement and furnish gas or water to such district or public corporation in the manner and under the limitations provided in this article.