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HomeMy WebLinkAbout76-70 Wheelchair Bus Permitr ORDINANCE NO. 76-70 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COSTA MESA AMENDING THE BUSINESS PERMIT ORDINANCE AND ESTABLISHING THE BUSINESS CLASSIFICATION OF WHEELCHAIR BUS. THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1: The City Council of the City of Costa Mesa, California, does hereby find and declare as follows: That within our community there is a need to transport persons on a non -emergency basis and who are confined to a wheel- chair to medical or dental centers or for other personal reasons. Due to the fact that these individuals are immobilized and since it is virtually impossible for these persons to use the normal transportation services available to the general public and the cost of hiring an ambulance for their needs is quite expensive and the proposed service would satisfy such needs; the following sections are hereby added to the Costa Mesa Municipal Code so that this service can be provided to the public for the general health, safety and welfare. SECTION 2: Chapter IV of Title 9, §9-125(b) is hereby repealed and the following subsection which shall read as follows is hereby enacted: Section 9-125 "(b) Ambulance and wheelchair bus services." SECTION 3: The following sections which shall read as follows are hereby added to Chapter IV of Title 9 of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code: "Section 9-258: Definitions, wheelchair bus. The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter shall'be construed as herein set forth, unless it is apparent from the context that a different meaning is intended. -1- (a) Wheelchair bus. Wheelchair bus means any privately or public owned motor vehicle that is especially designed or constructed and equipped which allows wheelchair passengers to be transported from one location to another. (b) Certificate. A certificate of public convenience and necessity issued pursuant to this chapter. Section 9-259 Certificate required. No person shall engage in the business of providing wheelchair bus service or of operating a wheelchair bus upon any public street within the City, without having first obtained a certificate of public convenience and necessity. To do so, in accordance with the provisions hereof and without complying with or having complied with all the provisions of this chapter and such certificate, shall constitute a violation of this chapter. Section 9-260 Application for certificate; required. An application for certificate shall be filed with the Director of Finance upon forms provided by the City, and such application shall be verified and shall furnish the following information: (a) The name and.address of the applicant, and if the same be a corporation, the names of its principal officers, or if the same be a partnership, association, or ficti- tious company, the names of the partners or persons comprising the association or company, with the address of each. to be charged. (b) A company schedule of the fares or rates (c) A description of every motor vehicle which the applicant proposes to use, including trade name, motor and serial number, state license number, and the wheelchair bus body style. (d) The distinct color scheme, name, monogram, and insignia which shall be used on each wheelchair bus. (e) The name of the regular and registered owner of each such wheelchair bus. -2- (f) The financial status of the applicant, including the amounts of all unpaid judgments against the applicant., and the nature of the transaction or acts giving rise to said judgment. (g) The experience of the applicant in the transportation of passengers. (h) Any facts which the applicant believes would tend to prove the public convenience and necessity requiring the granting of a certificate. (i) Such further information as the Director of Finance may require: Section 9-261 Hearing on application. Upon receipt of any such application, the Director of Finance shall set a time, not less than ten (10) days or more than thirty (30) days thereafter for the hearing of the application before the City Council, and shall give notice of the time so set at least five (5) days before the date of the hearing, to the applicant by mail at the address set out in such application, and to all persons to whom certificates of public convenience and necessity have.been heretofor issued. Section 9-262 Issuance of certificate. At the time set for the hearing of the application, the City Council may examine the applicant and all persons inter- ested in the matter set forth in the application, and shall deter- mine whether the public -interest, convenience and necessity require the issuance of the certificate applied for, if it is found by the City_Council that the public interest, convenience and necessity require the issuance of the certificate applied for, it shall, by resolution, order the Director of Finance to issue a certificate in accordance with the application, subject to the filing and approval of an undertaking as hereinafter provided in Section 9-264 (Public Liability Insurance), and subject to such conditions as may be imposed by said resolution, including the minimum and maximum number of vehicles that may be used. M919 Section 9-263 Grounds for denial. Any of the following reasons shall be sufficient for denial of the certificates: (a) That the application is not in the form and does not contain the information required to be contained herein by this chapter. (b) That the vehicles described herein are inadequate or unsafe for the purposes for which they are to be used. (c) That the color scheme, name, monogram, or insignia to be used upon such vehicles shall be in conflict with or imitate any color scheme, name monogram, or insignia used by such person in such manner as may be deceiving or tend to deceive or defraud the public. (d) That the applicant has at some prior time had such a certificate rejected for reason. (e) That it shall appear to the City Council that there are a sufficient number of wheelchair buses for hire in the City to fully service the public and that the granting of more certificates would unduly congest the traffic and interfere with the free use of the public streets by the public and that the best interests, demand and necessity do not require the issuance of such permit. Section 9-264 Liability insurance required. The applicant to whom a certificate shall have been awarded by the City Council as aforesaid shall deliver to the Director of Finance a policy of insurance executed by a company duly authorized under the laws of the State of California to be an insurance business, by the provisions of which policy the said company promises .and undertakes to pay in full -all claims for damages to persons or property resulting from the operation of the wheelchair buses referred to in said application, provided that the maximum amount for.which liability shall be assumed for injury to or for death of one person in any one accident shall be.not..less than Three Hundred Thousand ($300,000.00) Dollars, and for injury to or death of.more than one person in any one accident shall be not less than Five Hundred Thousand ($500,000.00) Dollars, and the maximum amount for which liability shall be assumed for injury to or destruction of property in any one accident shall be not less than Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars. Section 9-265 Grounds for revocation. Any certificate or permit granted under the provis- ions of this chapter may be revoked by the City Council, either as a whole or as to any wheelchair bus described therein or as to the right to use any distinctive color, monogram, or insignia, after five (5) days notice to the certificate holder requiring him to appear at a certain time and place to show cause why the certificate shall not be revoked for any of the following reasons: (a) That the undertaking provided for in Section 9-264 (Public Liability Insurance) has not been given or has been withdrawn or lapsed for non-payment of the premium, or is not in force for any reason. (b) For the nonpayment of any taxes/fees provided by this Code. (c) Failure to obey any of the rules or regulations or provisions set out in this chapter or in the certi- ficate. (d) For the violation of any of the laws of the State of California or ordinances of the City by any certi- ficate holder, operator or driver of any wheelchair bus covered by such certificate. (e) For failure to maintain satisfactory service to the public by means of any of the wheelchair buses described in the application, or for failure to keep any such wheelchair bus in use for an unreasonable length of time, or for failure to use the distinctive coloring, monogram, or insignia described in the application, or for deviation from the -5- schedule of rates and fares set forth in the application. (f) For any cause which, in the opinion of the City Council, makes it contrary to the public interest, con- venience, and necessity for the certificate or permit to be con- tinued. Section 9-266 -Application and permission to change. In the event any certificate holder desire to change his schedule of rates or charges, or the color scheme, or any mono- gram or insignia used on such wheelchair bus, or to substitute any vehicle for and in place of the vehicle described in the appli- cation, or to increase or decrease the number of vehicles used as wheelchair buses, application to the City Council shall be made for permission to do so, and the City Council shall grant such permission if it deems the public interest, convenience and necess- ity will be served by the change, and if the certificate holder has complied with all the provisions in this chapter. Section 9-267 Safety and other requirements. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a wheelchair bus: (1). Unless each passenger is secured to wheel- chairs by means of a safety belt attached either to the wheelchair or to,the wheelchair bus, and the wheelchair in which each pass- enger is sitting is secured or immobilized in such a manner that it will not move when starting, stopping or turning. (2) Except when the inside of the vehicle is adequately padded with rubber matting or carpeting so as to pro- tect such passenger from striking bare metal or any other dan- gerous.object. (3) Unless the Police Department approves-, the padding, matting or carpeting in the passenger compartment of said bus. (4) Unless the passenger in the wheelchair bus shall face forward during the movement of the vehicle. (5) Unless the vehicle is: condition. (a) Maintained in a clean and sanitary (b) Designed and equipped to transport no more than four (4) individuals in wheelchairs. (c) Maintained in first-class mechanical condition and subject to inspection by Police Department _ at any time. (d) Identified in such a manner as to clearly indicate that -the vehicle is used for wheelchair trans- portation. patients. (e) Equipped with loading ramp for (f) Equipped with a fire extinguisher of a type to meet the standards set forth by the Fire Chief. (g) Equipped with a standard first aid kit. The Police Department shall have.' -,the duty.,to._ inspect each vehicle periodically to determine whether or not the safety requirements hereof are being adhered to. Section 9-268 Compensation limitation. It shall be unlawful for any person to demand, receive or arrange for compensation for service of a wheelchair bus, in any amount, rate or compensation other than the charges or rates approved by the City Council. Section 9-269 Use restricted to handicapped. It shall be unlawful for any person to use a wheel- chair bus for transportation unless such person is physically handicapped and by virtue thereof requires such transportation. Section 9-270 Validity. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is held to be invalid for any reason, such invalidity shall not affect the validity of any other provision of this chapter. The City Council of the City of Costa Mesa declares that the provisions of this chapter are separable and that it would have passed this chapter and each and every section, -7- subsection, sentence, clause or phrase, irrespective of the fact that any one -:or more of the same be declared invalid. SECTION,�4..-.:_.This Ordinance shall take effect and -be in full force thirty'(30) days from and.after its passage and shall, prior' to the expiration of fifteen (15) days from its passage, be published once in the Daily Pilot, a newspaper of general cir- culation, printed and published in the City of Costa Mesa, together with the names of.the members of the City Council voti4g.for and -against the same. PASSED AND ADOPTED this AO;4(j day of 1976. ATTEST: City Clerk of the City Costa Mesa APPROVED AS TO FORM: CITY OF COSTA MESA ayor of the ity, ot Costa Mesa City Attorney of the City of ED S 8'M R.. Costa Mesa STATE OF CALIFORNIA) CITY ATTORNEY COUNTY OF ORANGE CITY OF COSTA MESA ) I, EILEEN P. PHINNEY,. City Clerk of the City of Costa Mesa and ex -officio Clerk of ..the City Council of the City of Costa Mesa, hereby certify that the',above and -foregoing- Ordinance No. 76,-70 was introduced and consdered"section by section at a regular meeting of said City Council on the 4,t;4 day of , 1976, and thereafter passed and adopted as a whole at a regular meeting of said City Council held on the _o day of , 1976, by the following roll call vote.: AYES : COUNCIL MEMBERS: I at4_ y -NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: IN WITNESS.WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Seal of.the City of Costa Mesa this Z day of , 1976. City Clerk and_ex-officio erk of the _City�Council of .the C' y of Costa Mesa - WE