Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 82.djvu/1200

 1158

Rental re gulations.

PUBLIC LAW 90-596-OCT. 17, 1968

[82

STAT.

title shall he rented only to the owner of property fronting and abutting such public space; that any person using such space shall not acquire any right, title, or interest therein; that both the United States and the District of Columbia, and the officers and employees of each of them, shall be held harmless for any loss or damage arising out of the use of such space, or the discontinuance of any such use; that the Commissioner may require such space to be vacated upon demand by him and its use discontinued, with or without notice, and with no recourse against either the United States or the District for any loss or damage occasioned by any such requirement; and that if any such use be not discontinued by the time specified by the Commissioner, the said (Commissioner may remove from such space any property left thereon or therein by any person using such space under the authority of this title, at the risk and expense of the owner of the real property abutting such space. SEC. 202. The District of Columbia Council shall by regulation provide for the payment of rent for the use of public space as authorized by this title. The annual rent for such space shall be a fair and equitable amount fixed by the Council from time to time in accordance wnth regulations adopted by it, generally establishing categories of use and providing that the rent for each category of use shall bear a reasonable relationship to the assessed value of the privately owned land abutting such spacej depending on the nature of the category of use and the extent to which the public space may be utilized for such purpose, but in no event shall the annual rent for the public space so utilized be at a rate of less than 4 per centum per annum of the current assessed value of an equivalent area of the privately owned space immediately abutting the public space so utilized. Such rent shall be payable m advance for such periods as may be fixed by the Council. I n the event the Commissioner requires any person using public space under the authority of this title to vacate all or part of any space for which rent has been paid, the Commissioner is authorized to refund so much of such prepaid rent as may be represented by the amount of space so vacated and by the length of time remaining in the period for which rent was paid. SEC. 203. The Commissioner is authorized, with respect to property subject to the requirements of section 2 of the Act approved May 31, 1900 (31 Stat. 248; D.C. Code, sec. 7-117), to allow the same use to be made of such property as, under the authority of this title, he allows to be made of the public space abutting such property. Any such use of such property shall be subject to the same conditions as are applicable to the use of the abutting public space, with the exception of the payment of rent. TITLE III—RENTAL OF SUBSURFACE PUBLIC SPACE

Repeal. Prior permits.

I s s u a n c e of permits. Conditions.

SEC. 301. Section 7 of the Act entitled "An Act making appropriations to provide for the expenses of the government of the District of Columbia for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for other purposes", approved September 1, 1916 (39 Stat. 716), as amended (D.C. Code, sec. 7-901), is hereby repealed, and all permits for the use of public space issued under the authority of such Act are revoked as of the effective date of this title. SEC. 302. The Commissioner is authorized to issue a permit for the use of a vault constructed prior to the effective date of this Act, or for the construction of a vault after such effective date, only to the owner of the real property abutting the public space in which such vault is or will be located. The issuance of each such permit shall be conditioned on the prior execution by such owner of an agreement acknowledging.

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