* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL
Introduced by: The Council President
At the request of: The Administration (Department of Transportation)
A BILL ENTITLED
AN ORDINANCE concerning
title
Franchise - Baltimore Red Line
FOR the purpose of granting franchise rights to the Mass Transit Administration of the Department of Transportation of the State of Maryland for the location, construction, operation, and maintenance in good condition of a Red Line Light Rail System within the boundaries of the City of Baltimore; setting the terms, conditions, and requirements of the Mayor and City Council pertaining to the location, construction, operation, and maintenance in good condition; authorizing the Mass Transit Administration to make use of streets and other public areas within the City of Baltimore for these purposes, in accordance with the attached plat dated, as prepared by the Mass Transit Administration of the Department of Transportation of the State of Maryland and filed with the Department of Transportation of the City of Baltimore on January 13, 2014; and providing for a special effective date.
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Recitals
WHEREAS, Pursuant to the Transportation Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, the Maryland Transit Administration of the Department of Transportation of the State of Maryland is authorized to plan, design, develop, finance, and maintain a light rail system serving the Baltimore Metropolitan Area; and
WHEREAS, The Maryland Transit Administration of the Department of Transportation of the State of Maryland is developing the Red Line Light Rail Transit Project, a 14-mile project with major project elements including a dedicated guideway, 19 stations, and an operations and maintenance facility; and
WHEREAS, The Red Line Light Rail Transit Project will provide connectivity lacking in Baltimore's current transit system, which will provide high quality transportation for City residents and visitors needing access to education, housing, and jobs; and
WHEREAS, The planned Baltimore Red Line Light Rail Transit Project lies partially within the boundaries of the City of Baltimore; and
WHEREAS, Section 7-701 of the Transportation Article of the Maryland Annotated Code requires the Maryland Transit Administration to comply with the laws, ordinances, and regulations of the City of Baltimore with respect to zoning, signs, and buildings, with respect to traffic control and regulation, and with respect to the use of streets, highways, and all other vehicular facilities, in connection with portions of the Baltimore Red Line Light Rail Transit Project, and further provides that the Maryland Transit Administration may not locate, construct, and maintain any of its transit and related facilities in, upon, over, under, or across the highways, streets, lanes, alleys, land under water, waterfront, public landings, wharf property, wharves and docks, parks, and sidewalks of the City of Baltimore without the consent of, and except upon the terms and conditions required by the Mayor and City Council of the City of Baltimore; and
WHEREAS, The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, a municipal corporation of the State of Maryland, and the Maryland Department of Transportation, acting by and through its Maryland Transit Administration, have further entered into a Memorandum of Understanding regarding Baltimore Red Line, dated October 12, 2012, which outlines the roles, responsibilities, and commitments of both parties regarding the Baltimore Red Light Rail Transit Project; and
WHEREAS, The Maryland Transit Administration has requested from the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore franchise rights for the construction and operation of the Baltimore Red Line Light Rail Transit Project within the City of Baltimore; now, therefore,
SECTION 1. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the consent of the Mayor and City Council is hereby given to the Maryland Transit Administration of the Department of Transportation of the State of Maryland, its successors and assigns (hereinafter "MTA") for the construction of the Baltimore Red Line Light Rail Transit Project (hereinafter "Red Line") within the limits of the City of Baltimore, in accordance with the plat thereof as prepared by the MTA, and filed in the Department of Transportation of the City of Baltimore on January 13, 2014. The MTA is hereby authorized to build, locate, construct, maintain in good condition and operate a Red Line with one or more tracks, with such switches, turnouts, sidings, median opening modifications, stations, station platforms with amenities, station public entrances and appurtenant facilities, operations and maintenance facilities, construction staging areas, storage areas, depots, drainage and stormwater management systems, utility systems, overhead structures and catenary systems, signals, underground stations with street level access points, bridge structures, traction power substations, tunnels, tunnel support facilities, ventilation structures, and other appurtenances, as it may deem necessary for the proper design, construction, operation, and maintenance in good condition of the Red Line and the accommodation of the traffic of the same in, upon, over, under, or across the highways, streets, lanes, alleys, medians, land under water, waterfront, public landings, wharf property, wharves and docks, parks, sidewalks, curbs, utilities, conduits, and other infrastructure belonging to or under the control of the City of Baltimore (hereinafter "Public Property or Places") and to maintain in good condition and repair all such structures, tracks, stations, station public entrances and appurtenances herein above mentioned at the sole cost and expense of the MTA. The MTA shall comply at all times with all of the ordinances of the City of Baltimore providing for condemnation, construction, maintenance, and repair of all facilities, both public and private, within such public property and places.
The MTA shall not in any manner injure or displace any structure or other property of the City of Baltimore on, above, within, or below the public right-of-way herein above mentioned without restoring, relocating, replacing, repaving, milling, resurfacing, refilling, or repairing the structures and property at its entire expense and in accordance with all City and Americans with Disabilities Act standards, or paying to the City all expenses and cost in connection therewith, in accordance with the requirements and provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding Baltimore Red Line, dated October 12, 2012, and any future agreements concerning the Red Line by and between the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore and the MTA.
The Mayor and City Council acknowledges that the MTA is the recipient of a Federal grant through the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, which funds, in part, the design and construction of the Red Line. The Mayor and City Council also acknowledges that pursuant to grant requirements, the MTA must demonstrate and retain satisfactory continuing control over rights-of-way upon which the Red Line operates, and that the City will not exercise any right of entry or other rights in a manner that compromises the MTA's commitments under Federal grant terms.
The MTA shall promptly, and at its own expense, mill and resurface in good order, improve concrete amenities, and make appropriate and necessary surface restoration of each such public property and place as the MTA may find necessary to dig, impair or remove pavement for the purpose of constructing or maintaining the Baltimore Red Line transit facilities.
If the MTA omits or neglects to repair or repave or make the appropriate and necessary further restoration of any such public property or place, or any part thereof, within a reasonable period of time after completion of its necessary construction activities, as provided for by the Director of Transportation of the City of Baltimore in his notice, the MTA shall, for each such omission, or neglect, forfeit and pay to the use of the City of Baltimore such sum as the Director of Transportation adjudges to be reasonable and proper under the circumstances, subject to a review on the record by a court of competent jurisdiction.
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, That the refilling, repairing, repaving, replacing, relocating, and restoring required to be done by the provisions of the preceding section, shall be subject to the approval by the Director of Transportation of the City of Baltimore, or his fully authorized representative, and if, through omission or neglect, or any cause, as emergency condition may arise or obtain, which, in the judgment of the Director, jeopardizes the health, welfare, or safety of the community, the Director may cause the repairing, repaving, replacing, relocating, and restoring to be done so as to end the emergency condition.
The Director of Transportation may file suit in the name of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Baltimore against the MTA to recover the expense of repairing, repaving, replacing, relocating, and restoring as necessitated by the emergency.
SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, That, unless otherwise approved by the Board of Estimates, the MTA shall, in its construction of the Red Line, provide for, construct, and maintain in good condition public entrance plazas adjacent to and around the locations of public entrances to the stations, on land specifically acquired by the MTA for that purpose, including permanent plaza surface treatments, signs and kiosks, seating, decorative planting area and landscaping elements, civic or artistic embellishments, lighting, and any other items necessary for the functioning of the entrance plazas and the enjoyment of the public utilizing them.
SECTION 4. AND BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, That wherever private entrance connections are to be constructed between private properties and structures, whether existing or to be constructed, and adjacent Red Line structures, where such private attractions are to be located and constructed over, across, in, or under the public property or places of the City of Baltimore, that the location, design and construction of the private entrance connections shall be subject to the approval of the City of Baltimore.
SECTION 5. AND BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, That the provisions of this ordinance are severable. If any term, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, section of part in or of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is declared invalid, the remaining provisions and the applications of such provisions or circumstances shall not be affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect, the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore hereby declaring that they would have ordained the remaining provisions of this ordinance without the term, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part, or the application thereof, so held invalid.
SECTION 6. AND BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, That when the conditions imposed by any provision of this ordinance are either more restrictive or less restrictive than comparable conditions imposed by any other law, ordinance, resolution, rule, regulation or agreement of any kind of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, the conditions that are more restrictive shall govern.
SECTION 7. AND BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, That this Ordinance takes effect on the date it is enacted.
dlr13-0634(2)~intro/29Jan14
franchise/Red Line/nbr
dlr13-0634(2)~intro/29Jan14
??4??
franchise/Red Line/nbr