40-62 City Pedestrian Mall Improvements
Download pdf
Loading PDF...
<![CDATA[CHAPTER 40-62CITY PEDESTRIAN MALL IMPROVEMENTS40-62-01. Authority for pedestrian mall and skyway improvements - Definitions.1.The governing body of any city may by resolutions create a special improvement<br>district, order and approve plans and specifications, determine the necessity,<br>advertise and enter contracts, issue special improvement warrants and bonds, and<br>levy special assessments for the improvement of one or more streets within its<br>central business district to be regulated and maintained as a mall for primarily<br>pedestrian use, or for the construction of skyways within its central business district,<br>in the manner and upon the terms and conditions set forth in chapters 40-22 to<br>40-27, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.2.For the purposes of this chapter:a."Pedestrian mall" means a street within a city designated by the governing body<br>and improved to encourage a high concentration of pedestrian use.b."Skyway" means an overhead walkway, whether open or enclosed, allowing<br>pedestrian traffic between buildings separated by a street, and includes all<br>corridors,passageways,methodsofingressandegress,andotherappurtenances necessary for an integrated and connected system.40-62-02. Determination of necessity. The resolution determining the necessity of theimprovement shall designate the portions of streets to be included within the mall or crossed by<br>skyways and shall state the reason or reasons why such designation is deemed necessary. It is<br>recognized by state policy that such necessity may exist in a city of substantial size for one or<br>more of the following reasons:1.Increases in population and in automobile usage and parking may create conditions<br>of traffic congestion in the central business district during part or all of normal<br>business hours which may be alleviated by a pedestrian mall or skyways.2.Continued unlimited use of the designated street or streets may constitute a hazard<br>to the safety of pedestrians and may impede necessary movement of police and fire<br>equipment, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles.3.Certain streets may be improved to their maximum width for sidewalk and roadway<br>purposes, and may be incapable of further widening without taking buildings and<br>improvements or substantially impeding the movements of pedestrians using the<br>facilities of the central business district.4.Orderly plans for urban renewal, rehabilitation, and redevelopment may require or<br>may be facilitated by such an improvement.5.Pedestrian use may be the highest and best use of the designated streets, and the<br>limitation of the use thereof by vehicles may be in the best interest of the city and of<br>the optimum benefit to the properties in the improvement district, if:a.Reasonably convenient alternate routes exist for vehicles going through the<br>central business district to other parts of the city and the state;b.The designated streets are not federal, state, or county highways, or, if they<br>are, the making of the improvement is conditioned upon the relocation of such<br>highways in the manner provided by law; andPage No. 1c.Properties abutting on the designated streets can reasonably and adequately<br>receive and deliver merchandise and materials either from other streets or<br>alleys, or by providing for limited use of the designated streets for this purpose.6.Construction of skyways may alleviate the conflict between pedestrian and motor<br>vehicle traffic.40-62-03. Plans and specifications. The plans and specifications must provide forimprovement of the designated streets or construction of skyways in a manner designed for the<br>free movement, safety, convenience, and enjoyment of pedestrians, whether or not part of the<br>mall is made available for emergency or other permitted vehicles. A mall improvement may<br>provide for and include space for seating, cafe tables, shelters, trees, flower plantings,<br>sculptures, newsstands, telephone booths, traffic signs, kiosks, fire hydrants, streetlighting,<br>ornamental lights, trash receptacles, display cases, marquees, awnings, canopies, overhead and<br>underground radiant heating devices, walls, barriers, and all other fixtures, equipment, facilities,<br>and appurtenances as will in the governing body's judgment enhance the free movement, safety,<br>convenience, and enjoyment of pedestrians and benefit the adjoining properties and the central<br>business district and the city. Sidewalks may be constructed of concrete, bricks, asphalt tiles,<br>blocks, granite sets, or other materials or combinations of materials as the governing body may<br>approve. The governing body may alter any roadway to be kept and maintained in the mall, may<br>cause any street vaults to be reconstructed or removed, may construct crosswalks at any point<br>within or at the ends of blocks, and may cause any roadway to curve and meander within the<br>limits of the street, if determined desirable to enhance the usefulness or appearance of the mall,<br>regardless of any nonuniformity of street width or any curve or absence of curve in the centerline<br>of the street. A skyway may be heated or unheated and may include any fixtures, equipment,<br>facilities, and appurtenances the governing body determines will enhance the free movement,<br>safety, convenience, and enjoyment of pedestrians and benefit the adjoining properties and the<br>central business district and the city.40-62-04. Jurisdiction to improve and regulate. Upon hearing of any protests madeby the owners of property within the improvement district in the time and in the manner provided<br>by law, if the governing body shall determine the protests to be insufficient, it may proceed with<br>the improvement as in the case of other special improvements; provided, that before so<br>proceeding a certified transcript of the resolution of necessity must be recorded in the office of<br>the recorder, and any person aggrieved thereby may appeal to the district court of the county in<br>accordance with the procedure provided in section 28-34-01, but only on the ground that the<br>establishment of the mall or construction of the skyway in accordance with the resolution will<br>unreasonably and arbitrarily obstruct the public use of and interest in the designated street or<br>streets, or that such resolution has been adopted in a manner contrary to law. Notwithstanding<br>the establishment of a mall or skyway, or the improvement of any street or any portion thereof as<br>a part of such mall or skyway, or any limitation of the use thereof by vehicles, the city and the<br>governing body shall retain at all times their police powers and other powers and rights pertaining<br>thereto, and no such action shall constitute a vacation, in whole or in part, of any portion of a city<br>street.40-62-05. Use of mall or skyways. The jurisdiction of the city to make a pedestrianmall improvement or to construct skyways, when established in the manner provided by law,<br>shall include jurisdiction to establish by ordinance and from time to time amend reasonable<br>regulations for the use of the mall or skyways, conforming to the following provisions:1.Vehicles may be permitted within the pedestrian mall in designated driving and<br>parking lanes as determined by the governing body.2.The owners and occupants of all properties abutting upon the mall which have<br>access to no other street or alley for delivery or receipt of merchandise and materials<br>shall be permitted to use the mall during such days and hours, which need not be<br>ordinary business days or hours, and in such manner and over such distance, as the<br>governing body shall find to be reasonably adequate for this purpose and to bePage No. 2possible without interfering with use by pedestrians and by emergency and other<br>vehicles for which use is permitted.3.The regulations may permit use for any purpose or activity which will enhance the<br>freedom of movement, safety, convenience, or enjoyment of pedestrians, including<br>but not limited to, seating, sidewalk cafes, displays of merchandise, exhibits,<br>advertising, telephones, transit, transit stops and shelters, newsstands, plantings,<br>ornaments, protection from the elements, emergency vehicles, and police and fire<br>equipment.4.The governing body may adopt a use plan prepared by city officers or consultants,<br>providing for the location and distribution within the mall of furniture, sculpture,<br>pedestrian traffic control devices, trees, flowers, lighting or heating facilities, and any<br>other equipment or properties placed or installed in the mall, whether owned by the<br>city or others, and may license and regulate the operation and maintenance thereof.5.Any furniture, structure, facility, or use located or permitted pursuant to such a plan<br>shall not, by reason of such location or use, be deemed a nuisance or unlawful<br>obstruction or condition, and neither the city nor any user acting under permit shall<br>be liable for any injury to person or property therefor unless directly caused by its<br>own negligence or that of its employees in the construction, maintenance, or<br>operation of such furniture, structure, facility, or use.6.The regulations for skyways may establish reasonable hours for use, permit closure<br>during hours of nonuse, prohibit use of the skyway for nonpublic purposes, and<br>provide methods necessary to prevent vandalism and other unauthorized use of the<br>skyway.40-62-06. Maintenance and improvement. A pedestrian mall or skyway establishedpursuant to this chapter may be maintained and the cost of such maintenance may be paid by all<br>means permitted by law for streets. The governing body may also annually cause an estimate to<br>be made of the probable cost of the maintenance during the current fiscal year, in excess of the<br>cost of maintenance of streets of similar length, width, and location not used as a mall, and may<br>assess the excess cost of maintenance on properties within the improvement district; provided,<br>that the assessments may not exceed the special benefits determined to be received by the<br>properties from the maintenance. The assessment list approved by the governing body must be<br>filed in the office of the city auditor, who must mail to the street address of each lot and parcel<br>proposed to be assessed, and to any other address as may be requested in writing by the owner<br>or occupant of a lot or parcel, a notice stating the amount proposed to be assessed upon the lot<br>or parcel, and that any objection thereto may be made in writing filed with the city auditor on or<br>before a specified date, not less than twenty days after the mailing, on which date, at a time and<br>place specified in the notice, the governing body will consider all objections. At this meeting, or<br>any adjournment thereof, the governing body shall review all assessments and hear all persons<br>desiring to be heard, and may amend the assessments in such manner as it determines to be<br>just and reasonable, and may confirm the same and direct the assessment list to be filed with the<br>county auditor, and the assessments made therein to be extended upon the tax lists of the city<br>for the current year and collected with interest and penalties as general taxes are collected and<br>paid over to the city auditor and placed by the auditor in a special fund to be used only for the<br>purpose of current, reasonable and necessary expenses of the operation and maintenance of the<br>mall or skyway.40-62-07. Additional improvements and extensions. An established pedestrian mallor skyway may be subsequently improved or extended by proceedings taken in the same<br>manner as for its establishment, and the improvements or extensions may thereafter be<br>regulated and maintained as provided in this chapter.Page No. 3Document Outlinechapter 40-62 city pedestrian mall improvements]]>