65964.5.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “Fiber” means fiber optic cables, and related ancillary equipment such as conduit, ancillary cables, hand holes, vaults and terminals.
(2) “Local agency” means a city, county, city and county, charter city, special district, or publicly owned utility.
(3) “Microtrench” means a narrow open excavation trench that is less than or equal to 4 inches in width and not less than 12 inches in depth and not more than 26 inches in depth and that is created for the purpose of installing a subsurface pipe or conduit.
(4) “Microtrenching” means excavation of a microtrench.
(b) (1) The provider of fiber facilities shall determine the method of the installation of fiber.
(2) A local agency shall not prohibit, or unreasonably discriminate in favor of or against the use of, aerial installations, open trenching or boring, or microtrenching.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), a local agency may prohibit aerial deployment of fiber where no aboveground utilities exist due to Public Utilities Commission Electric Tariff Rule 20 or other existing underground requirements.
(c) Fiber installations subject to this section shall be subject to both of the following:
(1) Where existing aboveground utilities are present, the local agency shall allow fiber to be installed in the same fashion as the existing aboveground utilities. This paragraph shall control over any undergrounding ordinance adopted by the local agency that requires all utilities to bury existing overhead facilities pursuant to the Overhead Conversion Program established by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to Electric Tariff Rule 20, except that the provider of fiber facilities shall underground its fiber at the time other utilities remove their aerial facilities pursuant to any undergrounding ordinance of the local agency.
(2) (A) The local agency with jurisdiction to approve excavations shall allow microtrenching for the installation of underground fiber if the installation in the microtrench is limited to fiber.
(B) Upon mutual agreement, a microtrench may be placed shallower than 12 inches in depth in areas that are not beneath a paved roadway.
(d) For purposes of this section, the time periods established by the applicable Federal Communication Commission rules contained in Subpart U (commencing with Section 1.6001) of Part 1 of Subchapter A of Chapter I of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations for a small wireless telecommunications facility using an existing structure shall apply to an application for a fiber installation.
(e) An application for a permit to install fiber shall include payment of a reasonable fee set by the local agency to cover the cost of processing the application.
(f) This section does not preclude an applicant and the local agency
from mutually agreeing to an extension of any time limit provided by this section.
(g) The Legislature finds and declares that installation of fiber is critical to the deployment of broadband services and other utility services, is a matter of statewide concern, and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, this section applies to all cities, including charter cities.