Florida Senate - 2011 SB 1934
By Senator Evers
2-01134A-11 20111934__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to utility right-of-way relocation;
3 amending s. 337.403, F.S.; requiring utility owners to
4 remove or relocate at their expense utilities that
5 interfere with public roads or rail corridors;
6 providing an exception if a local governmental entity
7 acquires property where the utility was legally
8 located prior to the acquisition; adding an exception
9 for certain permits issued in 1972; providing for
10 notice to utilities prior to commencement of work;
11 requiring the initiation of removal by the utility;
12 providing an effective date.
13
14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16 Section 1. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 337.403,
17 Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
18 337.403 Relocation of utility; expenses.—
19 (1) When a Any utility that has heretofore or hereafter
20 placed upon, under, over, or along any public road or publicly
21 owned rail corridor that is found by the authority to be
22 unreasonably interfering in any way with the convenient, safe,
23 or continuous use, or the maintenance, improvement, extension,
24 or expansion, of such public road or publicly owned rail
25 corridor, the utility owner shall, upon 30 days’ written notice
26 to the utility or its agent by the authority, initiate the
27 removal or relocation of be removed or relocated by such utility
28 at its own expense except as provided in paragraphs (a)-(h) (a)
29 (f).
30 (a) If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred to
31 in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No.
32 627 of the 84th Congress, is necessitated by the construction of
33 a project on the federal-aid interstate system, including
34 extensions thereof within urban areas, and the cost of the
35 project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
36 Federal Government to the extent of 90 percent or more under the
37 Federal Aid Highway Act, or any amendment thereof, then in that
38 event the utility owning or operating such facilities shall
39 relocate the facilities upon order of the department, and the
40 state shall pay the entire expense properly attributable to such
41 relocation after deducting therefrom any increase in the value
42 of the new facility and any salvage value derived from the old
43 facility.
44 (b) When a joint agreement between the department and the
45 utility is executed for utility improvement, relocation, or
46 removal work to be accomplished as part of a contract for
47 construction of a transportation facility, the department may
48 participate in those utility improvement, relocation, or removal
49 costs that exceed the department’s official estimate of the cost
50 of the work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such
51 participation shall be limited to the difference between the
52 official estimate of all the work in the joint agreement plus 10
53 percent and the amount awarded for this work in the construction
54 contract for such work. The department may not participate in
55 any utility improvement, relocation, or removal costs that occur
56 as a result of changes or additions during the course of the
57 contract.
58 (c) When an agreement between the department and utility is
59 executed for utility improvement, relocation, or removal work to
60 be accomplished in advance of a contract for construction of a
61 transportation facility, the department may participate in the
62 cost of clearing and grubbing necessary to perform such work.
63 (d) If the utility facility being removed or relocated was
64 initially installed to exclusively serve the authority
65 department, its tenants, or both, the authority department shall
66 bear the costs of removing or relocating that utility facility.
67 However, the authority department is not responsible for bearing
68 the cost of removing or relocating any subsequent additions to
69 that facility for the purpose of serving others.
70 (e) If, under an agreement between a utility and the
71 authority entered into after July 1, 2009, the utility conveys,
72 subordinates, or relinquishes a compensable property right to
73 the authority for the purpose of accommodating the acquisition
74 or use of the right-of-way by the authority, without the
75 agreement expressly addressing future responsibility for the
76 cost of removing or relocating the utility, the authority shall
77 bear the cost of removal or relocation. This paragraph does not
78 impair or restrict, and may not be used to interpret, the terms
79 of any such agreement entered into before July 1, 2009.
80 (f) If the authority acquires property on which a utility
81 is legally located, the authority shall bear the costs of
82 removing or relocating that utility.
83 (g) For any permit issued in 1972 by the department to any
84 utility when the utility was in possession of the permitted
85 property and transferred its interest to the department and if
86 master agreements between the department and the utility were
87 entered into before any permits were issued, the department
88 shall pay for any relocation expenses affecting a compensable
89 interest of the utility, notwithstanding any permit, statutory,
90 or contractual language to the contrary. This paragraph applies
91 only to utilities located on the Turnpike Homestead extension
92 and if the utility transferred its interest to the department
93 without compensation for future relocation expenses.
94 (h)(f) If the utility is an electric facility being
95 relocated underground in order to enhance vehicular, bicycle,
96 and pedestrian safety and in which ownership of the electric
97 facility to be placed underground has been transferred from a
98 private to a public utility within the past 5 years, the
99 department shall incur all costs of the relocation.
100 (2) If such removal or relocation is incidental to work to
101 be done on such road or publicly owned rail corridor, the notice
102 shall be given at the same time the contract for the work is
103 advertised for bids, or not less than 30 days prior to the
104 commencement of such work by the authority.
105 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.