Hawk Cove:Ord 2010-02

ORDINANCE NO. 2010-02

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HAWK COVE, TEXAS, ESTABLISHING REGULATIONS RELATING TO VEHICLE LIMITATIONS; ESTABLISHING DEFINITIONS; ESTABLISHING VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS; PROVIDING A PENALTY; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY AND REPEALER CLAUSE AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Hawk Cove, Texas ("City"), is a Type A general law municipality, pursuant to Section 6.011 of the Texas Local Government Code, and city ordinance adopted April 13, 2000; and WHEREAS, the City desires to preserve existing infrastructure by limiting the use of commercial vehicles on public rights-of-way; and WHEREAS, has authority pursuant to the Texas Transportation Code Sections 311.002 and 621.303 to regulate streets within the City's jurisdiction; and WHEREAS, the City desires to adopt rules, regulations and policies under the authority granted pursuant to State law establishing restrictions on the use of the streets within the City; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Hawk Cove, Texas ("City Council"), has determined that it is in the best interest of the health, safety and general welfare of the public to adopting this Ordinance establishing vehicle limitations. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HAWK COVE, TEXAS:

Section 1. FINDINGS INCORPORATED

The findings set forth above are incorporated into the body of this Ordinance as if fully set forth herein.

Section 2. ADOPTION OF REGULATIONS

The City Council hereby adopts the following regulations relative to "Vehicles" in the City.

Sec. 1.00 Definitions

For the purposes of this Ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this Ordinance: Commercial motor vehicle: Any motor vehicle designed or used for the transportation of property, not including a passenger bus, passenger automobile, motorcycle, panel delivery truck, or pick up truck. Driver or operator: Every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. Motor vehicle: Every vehicle which is self-propelled, Roadway: That portion of a street or highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. If a street or highway includes two (2) or more separate roadways, the term "roadway" shall refer to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively. Semi-trailer: Every vehicle of the trailer type so designated or used in conjunction with a motor vehicle that some part of its own weight and that of its own load rests upon or is carried by another motor vehicle. Street or highway: The entire width between the boundary lines of every right-of-way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Trailer: Every vehicle without motive power designed or used to carry property or passengers wholly on its own structure and to be drawn by a motor vehicle. Truck-tractors: Every motor vehicle designed or used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn. Vehicle: Every mechanical device, in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon public highway, including motor vehicles, commercial motor vehicles, truck-tractors, trailers, and semi-trailers, severally, as herein defined, but excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

Sec. 2.00 Vehicle Specifications.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Ordinance, it shall be unlawful for any person to drive, operate or move, or to cause or permit to be driven, operated or moved, on any public street within the city, any commercial motor vehicle with or without load, contrary to any of the regulations contained in this Ordinance.

(b) No commercial motor vehicle shall exceed a total outside width, including any load thereon, of ninety-six (96) inches, except that the width of a farm tractor shall not exceed nine (9) feet and that the limitations as to size of a vehicle stated in this Ordinance shall not apply to implements of husbandry, machinery used solely for the purpose of drilling water wells, or to highway or street building or maintenance machinery owned or operated by or on behalf of the state or any of its political subdivisions or the city. No commercial motor vehicle unladen or with load shall exceed a height of thirteen (13) feet, six (6) inches including load.

(c) No commercial vehicle, truck-tractor, trailer, semitrailer nor combination of such vehicles shall be operated or caused or permitted to be operated upon any public street within the city ha ving a weight in excess of any one (1) or more of the following limitations:

(1) In no event shall the total gross weight, with load, of any vehicle or combination of vehicles, exceed seventy-two thousand (72,000) pounds.

(2) No axle shall carry a load in excess of eighteen thousand (18,000) pounds. An axle load shall be defined as the total load transmitted to the road by all wheels whose centers may be included between two (2) parallel transverse vertical planes forty (40) inches apart, extending across the full width of the vehicle.

(3) The total gross weight concentrated on the highway surface from any tandem axle group shall not exceed thirty-two thousand (32,000) pounds for each such tandem axle group. "Tandem axle group" is defined to be two (2) or more axles spaced forty (40) inches or more apart from center to center ha ving at least one (1) common point of weight suspension.

(4) Vehicles used exclusively to transport ready-mix concrete may be operated upon public streets of the city with a tandem axle load not to exceed thirty-six thousand (36,000) pounds and a gross load not to exceed forty-eight thousand (48,000) pounds.

(d) The provisions of this Ordinance shall not apply to:

(1) Any person operating or causing to be operated a motor vehicle under a valid and subsisting permit for the operation of overweight or oversize equipment for the transportation of such commodities as cannot be reasonably dismantled issued by the State of Texas Department of Highways and Public Transportation under the provisions of Chapter 623 of the Texas Transportation Code as such Chapter now exists or might from time to time be amended;

(2) Emergency vehicle operating in response to any emergency call;

(3) Vehicles which have obtained permission and routing from the Chief of Police.

Sec. 3.00 Penalty.

An offense under this Ordinance is a misdemeanor punishable: (1) by a fine not to exceed $200; (2) on conviction before the first anniversary of the date of a previous conviction under this Ordinance: (A) by a fine not to exceed $500, by confinement in a county jail for not more than 60 days, or by both the fine and confinement; or (B) if the convicted person is a corporation, by a fine not to exceed $1,000; or (3) on a conviction before the first anniversary of the date of a previous conviction under this Ordinance that was punishable under Subdivision (2) or this subdivision: (A) by a fine not to exceed $1,000, by confinement in the county jail for not more than six months, or by both the fine and confinement; or (B) if the convicted person is a corporation, by a fine not to exceed $2,000. Section 3 SEVERABILITY CLAUSE If any section, article, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase of word in this ordinance or application thereto any person or circumstances is held invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance; and the City Council hereby declares it would have passed such remaining portions of this ordinance despite such invalidity, which remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect. Section 4 REPEALER CLAUSE Any provision of any prior ordinance of the City whether codified or uncodified, which are in conflict with any provision of the Ordinance, are hereby repealed to the extent of the conflict, but all other provisions of the ordinances of the City whether codified or uncodifided, which are not in conflict with the provisions of this Ordinance, shall remain in full force and effect. Section 5. EFFECTIVE DATE This ordinance shall become effective, and be in full force and effect, from and after the date of its passage, and it is accordingly so ordained. PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED THIS 13th DAY OF MAY 2010.