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Home My WebLink About1984-2817 YAKIMA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION COMPANY FRANCHISE TO OPERATE & MAINTAIN RAILWAY SYSTEM 111 III/ ORDINANCE NO. 2 1 7 AN ORDINANCE granting to. the YAKIMA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, a corporation, a franchise to operate and maintain railway tracks and a railway system thereon on certain public streets in the City of Yakima. WHEREAS, by Ordinance No. 1508, passed April 9, 1973, the City of Yakima granted to the Yakima Valley Transportation Company a nonexclusive franchise to operate and maintain railway tracks, facilities and appurtenances and a railway system thereon, upon and along certain streets in the City of Yakima, all as more particularly described therein, for a period of 11/1 ten (10) years, expiring May 14, 1983; and WHEREAS, said Yakima Valley Transportation Company has requested that its right to operate and maintain said railway tracks, facilities and appurtenances and railway system be renewed on a temporary basis, and whereas the City Council of Yakima deems it desirable to renew said franchise for a period of two (2) years; now, therefore, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF YAKIMA: SECTION 1. Subject to the terms and conditions hereof, there be and is hereby granted to the Yakima Valley Transportation Company, a corporation, hereinafter called "grantee", a nonexclusive franchise to operate and maintain standard gauge railway tracks and appurtenances, including a catenary system consisting of poles, trolley lines and signal and telephone lines, and to operate a railway system thereon for the transportation of freight, as now 1111 constructed, maintained and operated upon and along the following streets in the City of Yakima, Washington: -1- - 4 11 0 411 .* 1 \ , On West Nob Hill Boulevard from the west city limits to 16th Avenue South; on 16th Avenue South from West Nob Hill Boulevard to Tieton Drive (formerly Division Street); on Tieton Drive from 16th Avenue South to Holton Avenue; on West Pine Street from Holton Avenue to 2nd Avenue South; on 6th Avenue from West Pine Street to the most northerly city limits. SECTION 2. The grantee shall have the right to maintain and operate existing spur tracks connecting the railway tracks hereinbefore authorized with adjacent manufacturing plants, warehouses or other private property. SECTION 3. Tracks of the grantee which are authorized by this ordinance and which are located on the portion of any street right of way to be used by motor vehicles shall be so maintained that the tops of the rails thereof shall be level with the surface of the streets on which such tracks are located; provided, however, the grantee shall not be required to superelevate or depress one rail of its track or otherwise to change the cross level of its track or tracks contrary to standard railroad engineering 4 11 0 practices. The grantee shall maintain the surface of the streets between the rails of said tracks and for a distance of eighteen (18) inches on the outside of each of said rails in a manner satisfactory to the City's Director of Public Works. Whenever the City paves, repaves or otherwise improves street areas occupied by said tracks, the grantee shall pave, repave or improve in the same manner that portion of the street area between the rails of said tracks and for a distance of eighteen (18) inches on the outside of each rail, and shall thereafter maintain the portion so paved, repaved or improved by the grantee. All said work shall be done by the grantee at its own cost and expense and in accordance with the standards .of the City's- Director of Public Works. In the event the grantee shall fail to perform and do said work, the City may perform said work and charge the cost thereof, including engineering expense, to the grantee, together with an additional ten percent (10%), and if not paid within fifteen (15) days after billing the grantee therefor, the City may maintain civil suit to collect the same and recover 4 11 0 reasonable attorney's fees against the grantee in said suit. -2- 411, • SECTION 4. The City reserves to itself the right to control and regulate the public streets hereinabove mentioned and over which any rail tracks pursuant to • . this ordinance may be now or hereafter established. The City further reserves the right to improve said streets and to install and maintain therein, sewers, water mains and any other public works, and also reserves the right, subject to the laws of the State of Washington, to permit crossings of the grantee's tracks by other railway tracks. SECTION 5. In the operation of its cars or trains upon the public streets pursuant to this franchise ordinance, the grantee shall not obstruct or interfere with public travel thereon, except so far as may be . necessary in the ordinary conduct of such operations; and the City, by ordinance duly enacted, may regulate the speed at which the cars and motive power may be operated upon the City's streets. Without limitation thereof, the grantee's trains and all on-track equipment shall not exceed five miles per hour (5 MPH) on 6th Avevue between Pine Street and Walnut Street, and shall not exceed twelve miles per hour (12 MPH) elsewhere described in Section 1 of this ordinance. • SECTION 6. Except as may be otherwise specifically authorized from time to time by the City Council, the grantee shall not operate trains during the following time periods Mondays through Fridays: Location Hours Trains Prohibited West of 6th Avenue 1:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. On 6th Avenue 1:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon 4:30 p.m: to 6:00 p.m. All trains and on-track equipment shall obey traffic signals at intersecting streets, and shall be preceded by a flagman at intersections which are protected by stop signs. During nondaylight hours, the engine of all trains shall be lighted on all sides, and the last • car of each train shall have affixed at each side of the trailing end, a flashing red light visible from the rear and respective sides of the train. -3- , 411 111 ; • ' SECTION 7. The grantee shall grant to the City, for the duration of this franchise, the right to use, for public street purposes, the six-foot strip of land owned by the grantee along the existing north margin of Nob Hill Boulevard between 16th Avenue and 40th Avenue. • SECTION 8. In the event the City adopts, by resolution, a beautification plan for unimproved 111 property owned by the grantee situated at the intersection of 16th Avenue and Tieton Drive and 16th Avenue and Nob Hill Boulevard, the City and the grantee shall share equally the cost of developing and maintaining the beautification project. The obligation • of the grantee to participate in said beautification project shall not be deemed to run with the land nor to be binding upon future owners or lessees of the property. The grantee shall have the right at any time to develop or dispose of.said property, in which event, the beautification projeCt shall terminate. SECTION 9. The grantee, its successors and assigns, shall hold the City of Yakima harmless from every liability or damage resulting from the construction, maintenance, operation or existence of the railroad tracks located in the streets described in Section 1 hereof; provided, this section shall apply 4110 only:to liability for accidents or claims which occur prior to abandonment of.grantee's operation or any part thereof. SECTION 10. As compensation for the rights granted by the City to the grantee under this ordinance, the grantee shall pay to the City, annually during the continuance of this ordinance, a sum equal to five percent (5%) of the gross revenue of the grantee's operations for such year upon that portion of the grantee's tracks located within the City of Yakima, determined as follows; Said fivepercent (5%) shall be computed upon that portion of the entire gross revenues of the grantee in the operation of its entire track system as the miles of trackage within the City of ' Yakima bear to the total-miles of trackage owned and operated by the grantee; provided that such compensation shall not be less than ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND NO/100 DOLLARS ($1,500.00) for each . calendar year. Such compensation for each calendar year shall be payable within fifteen (15) days after the end of such year. SECTION 11. The City may at any time during the term of this franchise acquire from the grantee, either by agreement or condemnation, that portion of the grantee's railway tracks,'poles, and appliances located .-4- • 4110 ; upon public streets in the City of Yakima for which • franchise is hereby granted; and upon said purchase by the City, no value for this franchise shall be taken into account in fixing the price to be paid by the City 4111 therefor. SECTION 12. This franchise may not be transferred, conveyed or assigned, whether by the grantee, by operation of law, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the City Council expressed by ordinances; and no rule of estoppel, or claim of waiver shall be invoked against the City in case it shall assert the invalidity of any attempted transfer in violation of this section. SECTION 13. In the event of the failure or neglect of the grantee to comply with the terms and conditions of this ordinance, this franchise and all rights hereunder may be cancelled and terminated at the option of the City Council, provided that the City shall first serve upon the grantee, at its regularly established office in Yakima, Washington, written 4110 notice specifying the defaults claimed and requiring the grantee to remove and remedy such defaults within thirty (30) days, and if so removed, this franchise shall remain in good standing, but if not removed, such termination shall be in full force and effect. SECTION 14. The franchise hereby granted shall take effect thirty (30) days after the date of its publication, and, unless terminated pursuant to the provisions hereof, shall be and remain in full force and effect for a period of two (2) years from and after said effective date, or until grantee abandons its operations pursuant to authority from the Interstate Commerce Commission, whichever first occurs. SECTION 15. Grantee has announced its intention to file and process with the Interstate Commerce Commission one or more applications to abandon all of • its operations, including operations in City streets covered by this franchise. When authorization from the Interstate Commerce Commission is effective, grantee shall promptly abandon operations, and retire its trackage and facilities in place, consistent with the necessity to terminate service to shippers in an orderly fashion. -5- , 4110 - k • • SECTION 16. In the event grantee does not secure authority from the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon operations on any segment of line, Section 15 of this franchise shall be of no force and effect with respect to such segment, but the remainder of this 411' franchise shall be valid and enforceable for the period set forth in Section 14. SECTION 17. The grantee shall file with the City Clerk within fifteen (15) days after the passage of this ordinance by the City Council the grantee's unqualified written acceptance thereof as a condition to enjoying the rights and privileges hereunder. PASS BY THE CITY CM, signed and approved this - a day of , 19 S/zi // r M Attest: Attest:, 1110 City Clerk ACCEPTANCE OF FRANCHISE • • YAKIMA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, a corporation, does hereby accept, without qualification, the franchise granted by Ordinance No. passed by the Yakima City Council entitled "AN ORDINANCE granting to the YAKIMA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, a corporation, a franchise to operate and maintain railway tracks and a railway system thereon on certain public streets in the City of Yakima." DATED this day of , 19 . 1110 YAKIMA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION COMPANY By -6- • • 1111 • • •