2007 California Streets and Highways Code Article 2. Permit Provisions

CA Codes (shc:670-695)

670.  (a) The department may issue written permits, as provided in
this chapter, authorizing the permittee to do any of the following
acts:
   (1) Make an opening or excavation for any purpose in any state
highway.
   (2) Place, change, or renew an encroachment.
   (3) Place or display in, under, or over any state highway any
advertising sign or device.  Any advertising sign or device placed or
displayed in violation of this section is a public nuisance and the
department may immediately remove it.  This section does not prohibit
the posting of any notice in the manner required by law or by the
order of any court.
   (4) Plant, remove, cut, cut down, injure, or destroy any tree,
shrub, plant, or flower growing within any state highway.  However,
the department shall not issue a permit for, or take any other action
to accomplish, the destruction, removal, or topping of any tree,
unless the tree is dead or diseased, for the purpose of improving or
enhancing the view from the highway of an advertising sign or device
or any commercial activity, unless, for any project whose cost is
more than five hundred dollars (0), the permittee has obtained
consent from the city or county in which the tree is located.
Nothing in this paragraph limits the department's authority to modify
or deny any permittee's request.  If the city or county does not
respond within 30 days to a request for a permit pursuant to this
paragraph, the city or county is deemed to have given consent to the
project.
   (5) Install or remove tire chains upon motor vehicles for
compensation on any state highway at locations designated in the
permit, upon any terms and conditions relating to the safe and
orderly movement of traffic that the department finds necessary.  The
department may issue sufficient permits for the installation or
removal of tire chains that it finds necessary or desirable to
accommodate the demand for those services consistent with the maximum
convenience and safety to traffic.  The department, in issuing any
permit for the installation or removal of tire chains, shall assume
no responsibility for the competence or reliability of the permittee
in performing those services.
   (b) Any person who does any act specified in this section without
a permit is guilty of a misdemeanor.


670.1.  (a) The department may issue a permit to the owner or
developer of property adjacent to or near a state highway to
construct, alter, repair, or improve any portion of the highway for
the purpose of improving local traffic access, if the improvements to
the highway are required as part of, or as a condition to, the
development of property and the improvements are accepted by the
department.
   (b) The permit may be issued only if the work within the highway
right-of-way is to be performed in accordance with plans and
specifications approved by the department and the department reserves
the right to inspect and accept the work as complying with the
approved plans and specifications.
   (c) All road, bridge, street lighting, or installation of signal
work performed under a permit issued pursuant to this section for
acceptance into the state highway system, except work performed
solely to allow private encroachments onto the state highway or for
utility or drainage encroachments within the state highway, are
public works for purposes of Part 7 (commencing with Section 1720) of
Division 2 of the Labor Code.



670.5.  The Flag of the United States of America and the Flag of the
State of California may be displayed on a sidewalk located in or
abutting on a state highway situated within a city, if the type of
flag-holder and the method of its installation and maintenance are
not in violation of the department's rules.



671.  Any act done under the authority of a written permit, issued
pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, shall be done in
accordance with the applicable provisions of this chapter, and the
terms and conditions of such permit.


671.1.  The department may establish a fee schedule and charge a fee
for the issuance of permits pursuant to the provisions of this
chapter, except that no such fee shall be charged by the department
to any public corporation.  The fee schedule established by the
department shall not produce a total estimated revenue in excess of
the estimated total cost to the department for administering the
provisions of this chapter, excluding the cost of issuing permits
exempted by statute or regulation from the payment of fees.  Funds
collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the State
Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund.




671.5.  (a) The department shall either approve or deny an
application from an applicant for an encroachment permit within 60
days of receiving a completed application, as determined by the
department.  An application for an encroachment permit is complete
when all other statutory requirements, including the California
Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section
21000) of the Public Resources Code), have been complied with.  The
department's failure to notify the applicant within that 60-day
period that the permit is denied shall be deemed to constitute
approval of the permit.  Thereafter, upon notifying the department,
the applicant may act in accordance with its permit application, as
if the permit had been approved.
   (b) If the department denies an application for an encroachment
permit, it shall, at the time of notifying the applicant of the
denial, furnish to the applicant a detailed explanation of the reason
for the denial.
   (c) The department shall adopt regulations prescribing procedures
for an applicant to appeal to the director for a final determination
of the department's denial of an application.  The appeal shall be
made in writing to the director.  There shall be a final written
determination by the director within 60 calendar days after receipt
of the applicant's written appeal.  The adopted regulations shall
require the appellant to pay to the department a fee of not more than
50 percent of the estimated administrative cost to the department of
conducting the appeal.
   (d) Nothing in this section precludes an applicant and the
department from mutually agreeing to an extension of any time limit
provided by this section.



672.  Any permit issued under the provisions of this chapter may
provide that the permittee will pay the entire expense of replacing
the highway in as good condition as before, and may provide such
other conditions as to the location and the manner in which the work
is to be done as the department finds necessary for the protection of
the highway.



673.  (a)  Any permit issued to a permittee of the class specified
in Section 678 shall contain a provision that in the event the future
improvement of the highway necessitates the relocation or removal of
the encroachment the permittee will relocate or remove the same at
the permittee's sole expense. In that event, the department shall
serve on the permittee its written demand specifying the place of
relocation, or that the encroachment is to be removed from the
highway, and specifying a reasonable time within which the work of
relocation is to be commenced.  The permittee shall commence the
relocation or removal within the time specified in that demand and
thereafter diligently prosecute until completion.
   (b) All permits, other than those issued to permittees of the
class specified in Section 678 or the class specified in Section 680,
are revocable on five days' notice and the encroachment shall be
removed or relocated as may be specified by the department in the
notice revoking the permit and within the time specified by the
department, which time shall not be less than five days, unless the
permit so provides.
   (c) The department may waive the requirement of subdivision (a)
that the permittee bear the sole expense of relocating or removing an
encroachment, if the encroachment consists of a track or roadway
that serves as an exclusive public mass transit guideway owned,
operated, and maintained by a publicly owned mass transit authority.



674.  The department may, but is not required to, supervise any work
done under any permit, issued under the provisions of this chapter
in which event the permittee shall, in addition to any fees charged
pursuant to Section 671.1, pay the reasonable cost of such
supervision to the department, but no cost of supervision shall be
charged by the department to any public corporation.



675.  (a) Permittees may excavate openings in state highways to make
repairs in cases of emergency requiring immediate action.  In such
cases, the appropriate representative of the department shall be
promptly notified of any such action, and such permittee, at his own
expense, shall immediately replace the state highway in as good
condition as before such excavation.
   (b) A city or public corporation supplying water service to its
inhabitants may, within its corporate limits, excavate a state
highway without a permit in cases of emergency requiring immediate
action.  In such cases, the state highway shall, at the expense of
the city or public corporation, be replaced in as good condition as
before such excavation.



676.  The department may delegate to any city any of the department'
s powers, duties, and authority, other than those of approval, under
this chapter as to any State highway, or any part thereof, within
such city, and may withdraw any such delegation of authority.



677.  Before granting a permit under any provision of this chapter,
the department may require the applicant to file with the department
a satisfactory bond payable to the people of the State of California
in such amount as the department deems sufficient, conditioned on the
proper compliance by the permittee with the provisions of this
article.



678.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, such a bond
shall not be required of any county, city, public corporation or
political subdivision which is authorized by law to establish or
maintain any works or facilities in, under or over any public
highway, nor shall the application of any such governmental unit for
a permit be denied.  Every such applicant is entitled as a matter of
right to a permit, but is otherwise subject to the provisions of this
article and to all reasonable conditions and provisions made by the
department in any such permit.
   The department may require of any such applicant a bond in a sum
not to exceed twenty thousand dollars, if such applicant has in fact
prior to such application failed to comply with the provisions of
this article or with the provisions of a previous permit.



679.  Any city, municipal utility district, municipal water district
or metropolitan water district is entitled to a blanket permit,
renewable annually, for the installation of its service connections
and for ordinary maintenance of its facilities located or installed
in State highways; but the department may revoke any such blanket
permit if the permittee fails to comply with the provisions of this
article.  When any such permit is revoked in a proper case such
municipal utility district, municipal water district or metropolitan
water district is entitled to a permit only on furnishing a bond as
provided in section 677.


680.  Whenever a franchise is granted by any county or city in any
public highway which has been or is subsequently constituted a state
highway, the department may enforce any obligations of the grantee or
holder of the franchise with respect to the repair of the highway.
The department may require any person who has placed and maintained
any pole, pole line, pipe, pipeline, conduit, street railroad tracks,
or other structures or facilities upon any state highway, whether
under that or any franchise, to move it at his or her own cost and
expense to such different location in the highway as is specified in
a written demand of the department, whenever necessary to insure the
safety of the traveling public or to permit the improvement of the
highway.  However, no such change of location shall be required for a
temporary purpose.  The department shall specify in the demand a
reasonable time within which the work of relocation shall be
commenced and the grantee or owner shall commence the relocation
within the time specified in the demand and thereafter diligently
prosecute it to completion.
   In case the owner fails to comply with any such demand, the
encroachments specified in the demand become subject to Article 3
(commencing with Section 720), except that no further notice is
required.



680.5.  The department and any utility as defined in Section 700 may
enter into a contract for or apportioning the obligations and costs
to be borne by each party for the removal, relocation or repair of
facilities whenever necessary to accommodate any or all state
highways which are not freeways, to the same extent and in the same
manner as is authorized for state freeways in Section 707.5.



681.  Whenever a franchise shall have been granted by any county or
city in any public highway heretofore or hereafter constituted a
State highway, all of the rights of the grantor under such franchise,
including the right to collect and receive tolls, charges or
payments thereunder other than the rights transferred to the
department by section 680, are reserved to such county or city.



682.  Every city and county shall have power to grant franchises
authorizing the exercise of any privilege in, along, across, under,
through, over, and upon any state highway, or portion thereof, within
its boundaries to the extent and in the manner that it shall have
power to grant franchises authorizing the exercise of such privilege
in, over, and upon city streets, or county highways, as the case may
be, subject to the conditions and limitations provided in Sections
682 to 695, inclusive.



682.5.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 731, the department may issue
permits to counties and cities for the use of highways within their
boundaries and to community-based nonprofit corporations for special
events upon terms and conditions relating to the safe and orderly
movement of traffic that the department finds necessary.  A city or
county or a community-based nonprofit corporation issued a permit may
allow or conduct vending on or adjacent to the highway immediately
preceding, during, or immediately following the permitted special
event in accordance with the terms and conditions specified by the
department in the permit.
   Not more than four permits for the same activity at the same
location shall be issued to any city or county or community-based
nonprofit corporation in any calendar year.  No permit shall be
issued to a community-based nonprofit corporation unless that
corporation has been issued an acknowledgment by the city or county
within which the special event is proposed to be conducted.
   Neither the department, in issuing permits for the use of
highways, nor the city or county, in issuing acknowledgments, shall
be responsible for the conduct or operation of the permitted activity
and shall require the permit applicant to agree to indemnify and
hold harmless the state and the city or county against any and all
claims arising out of any activity for which the permit is issued.
   (b) As used in this section,"community-based nonprofit corporation"
means a corporation formed under the Nonprofit Corporation Law
(Division 2 (commencing with Section 5000) of the Corporations Code)
having an office located within the county within which the special
event is to be held.
   (c) As used in this section, "acknowledgment" means the issuance
by a city or county to a community-based nonprofit corporation of a
special event permit, road closure or detour permit, or letter of
permission authorizing the special event for which a permit from the
department is sought.



683.  No franchise of any kind shall be granted in respect to any
State highway or portion thereof which has been established as a
freeway pursuant to the provisions of this code without the prior
approval in writing of the department, except for crossings as
provided in Section 685.



684.  No franchise shall be granted for the installation of street
or other railroad tracks or the operation of street railroads or
other railroads on any State highway without the prior approval in
writing of the department except for crossings as provided in Section
685.



685.  In case a franchise is granted for the exercise of a privilege
in a city street or county highway, approval of the department shall
not be required in respect to intersections.  Franchises may be
granted extending across the common area of the intersection without
any such approval.  In cases where the grades of the state highway
and the city street or county highway are separated, the franchise
shall be exercised  only on the city street or county highway.



686.  The department shall approve any franchise submitted for
approval pursuant to Section 683 or 684 unless the department finds
on the facts of the particular case that the exercise of the
privilege proposed to be granted is incompatible with the primary use
of the freeway or other State highway for vehicular traffic or with
its improvement to serve its primary use.



687.  Franchises may be granted under this article separately as to
any state highway, or portion thereof, or in respect to both state
highways, or portions thereof, and city streets or county highways.



688.  In cases in which the approval of the department is not
required, the city or county shall give notice to the department of
any application for a franchise affecting a state highway at the time
of the filing of such application by any applicant, so that the
department may present to the legislative body of the  city or
county, as the case may be, any considerations by it deemed to be
important.  Such notice shall be given to the appropriate district
director.


689.  No privilege shall be exercised in any state highway pursuant
to any franchise granted under this article until a copy of such
franchise, certified by the clerk of the grantor city or county, has
been filed with the department.  This may be filed with the district
director.


690.  The department shall have the power to prescribe the location,
within the limits of the State highway, of any physical property to
be constructed or installed in, under, over or upon such State
highway pursuant to any such franchise.  Before constructing or
installing any such physical property in any State highway, the
holder of the franchise shall apply to the department, or its
authorized agent, for a permit, and the department shall issue a
permit, in which it may impose reasonable conditions as to location,
method and manner of construction.  All such physical property is
subject to relocation in the cases and in the manner provided in
Section 680.



691.  In the exercise within the limits of any State highway of any
privilege granted by franchise, the holder thereof shall at all times
be subject to all reasonable orders, rules and regulations of the
department for the protection, maintenance or improvement of the
highway or the safe and convenient use thereof as a public highway.




692.  Independently of or jointly with the grantor city or county,
the department may enforce any obligation imposed by any franchise
granted pursuant to Section 682 relating to the construction,
reconstruction, improvement, repair, or maintenance of any state
highway or portion thereof.



693.  All sums payable by the grantee under any such franchise shall
be paid to the grantor city or county.



694.  All franchises heretofore granted by any city for the exercise
of any privilege in any State highway, are hereby fully validated,
legalized and made effective, to the same extent that such city at
the time of making the grant had power to grant a franchise
authorizing the exercise of such privilege in, over and upon city
streets.



695.  Failure of the department to act upon any application for
approval under Sections 683 or 684 within 90 days after the filing of
such application with the department shall be deemed to constitute
approval thereof.  The time herein prescribed may be extended with
the consent of the grantor city or county.