16.14.060 Design standards.
A. All conductors, switches, transformers, and regulating devices shall be installed in accordance with the applicable national, state and local safety standards. All structural devices shall be designed in accordance with the provisions of the city building code.
B. All vaults, handholes, ventilation gratings, and access covers and conduit in public rights-of-way shall be strong enough to withstand 10,000 pounds of wheel load.
C. Any equipment excepted from these underground requirements or otherwise permitted to be installed aboveground shall be:
1. Placed within an enclosure or part of the building being served; or
2. Suitably screened with masonry or other decorative panels and/or evergreen trees, shrubs, and landscaping planted in sufficient depth to form an effective and actual sight barrier within five years. Where shrubbery is the primary screening element, minimum shrub height shall be seven feet (except for equipment not exceeding such height) for the bulk of the screen, with lower shrubs in the foreground to eliminate any gaps in screening.
The utility shall be responsible for the installation, maintenance, repair, or replacement of the aforementioned screening materials when the real property on which the aboveground facility is located is owned by the utility. When the aboveground facility is located on non-utility owned real property, the owner shall bear the expense of installation, maintenance, repair, or replacement of the screening materials outlined above.
D. Space frames and structural arrangements for holding equipment shall be designed to have an uncluttered and neat appearance.
E. Plans for all aboveground installations shall be submitted to the planning commission for approval of site-screening prior to the issuance of a permit by the building official. (Ord. 577 § 3, 1970)