§ 64A-1. Findings; legislative intent.

A. 

This Town Board hereby finds and determines that public utility companies place poles on Town of North Hempstead highways, streets, roads and rights-of-way to facilitate the delivery of electric, telephone, cable television, and other telecommunications services to the residents of the Town of North Hempstead.

B. 

This Town Board finds and determines that local governments have the authority to regulate their highways, streets, roads and rights-of-way to protect the public.

C. 

This Town Board finds and determines that utility poles are damaged from time to time.

D. 

This Town Board finds and determines that public safety can be compromised when utility lines and equipment remain affixed to utility poles that are weathered or otherwise damaged.

E. 

This Town Board finds and determines that when a new pole is installed, a utility's delay in removing lines and equipment from the old pole also delays the removal of the pole itself, which causes a proliferation of aesthetically unpleasant double poles along highways, streets, roads, and rights-of-way, as well as obstructing the paths of pedestrians.

F. 

This Town Board finds and determines that the interest of the public is best served by cooperation and communication between public utilities and the Town Board.

G. 

In enacting this chapter, the Town Board deems this chapter to be an exercise of the police power of the Town of North Hempstead for the preservation and protection of public safety and is enacted pursuant to the authority contained in the Highway Law, Town Law, and Municipal Home Rule Law of the State of New York.

H. 

Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to require utilities that use Town highways, streets, roads and rights-of-way to promptly remove their plants, cables, lines, equipment, and terminals from old and damaged poles and to further require the prompt removal of double poles once all plants, cables, lines, equipment, and terminals have been removed.