Focus Area: Infrastructure and Legal
Staff Contact: Mary Jaeger; Nate Baldwin; Ron Shaver; Bob Gallimore
Subject: Proposed amendments to Title 12 of the Olathe Municipal Code pertaining to public utilities.
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Report regarding proposed amendments to Title 12 of the Olathe Municipal Code pertaining to public utilities.
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Summary:
When planning City projects, City staff request that utilities with facilities located within the project area mark those facilities so that the project can be designed around them or the facilities can be relocated, if necessary. Although utilities often timely cooperate with these requests, over the past few years the utility locates have increasingly been delayed or incomplete. Staff has attempted to address these issues through discussions with the utilities, but the issues have continued. The failure to timely locate facilities at the planning stage can result in project delays and increased expenses to the City if a project must be redesigned or a contractor cannot proceed on schedule.
The Kansas Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act requires utilities to locate their facilities, but the Act only applies when a project is “shovel-ready” and not at the planning stages. Staff from the Kansas Corporation Commission, which enforces the Act, encourages cities to supplement the Act with local ordinances to address utility locate issues. Accordingly, City staff has prepared the proposed Ordinance 25-XX (Attachment A) to address the ongoing issues with utility locates. It would provide a 30-day period for utilities to locate their facilities within a City project area and would provide penalties for non-compliance. It also would allow the City to require a utility to remediate any facility that the utility reports as unlocatable.
Additionally, the proposed ordinance would codify and clarify current practice regarding public utilities’ use of utility easements dedicated to the City and the relationship between utility easements and right-of-way.
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Financial Impact:
When utility companies fail to mark their facilities, City-contracted design firms must call in additional locate requests and remobilize survey crews. This increases the overall cost of the project design to the City.
When utility companies continue to fail to locate their facilities, there is often a cost associated with project redesign. Additionally, when utility information is not picked up via these design processes, utility linework will be excluded from project plans. This leads to a higher risk of utility infrastructure being damaged during construction and outages to residents and businesses, which can result in additional costs.
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Action Needed:
Accept the report. Unless directed otherwise, staff will prepare the ordinance for formal consideration on November 18, 2025.
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Attachment(s):
A - Ordinance No. 25-XX