§ 171-1. Permit
required.
Unless
acting under a contract with the Village, it shall be unlawful for any person,
other than a duly authorized Village official or employee in the course of his
employment, to make or cause or permit to be made any excavation or opening in
or under the surface or pavement of any street, alley, sidewalk or other public
place within the Village without first having obtained and having in force a
permit. so to do as hereinafter provided. In case of an emergency arising out
of office hours, at night, Sundays, or legal holidays, when an immediate
excavation may be necessary for the protection of public or private property,
the same shall be reported to the Police Department, which shall grant
permission to make the necessary excavation upon the express condition that an
application be made in the manner herein provided on or before noon of the next
following business day.
§ 171-2. Application
for permit.
A. Form
of application. Any person desiring to procure a permit as herein provided
shall file with the Superintendent of Streets at least 24 hours before the time
proposed to begin such work a written application upon a blank form prepared
and provided by the Village. Such application shall state:
(1) The
name and business or residence address of the applicant.
(2) The
names of the street, alley, sidewalk, or public place in or under which it is
desired to make the application or opening.
(3) The
kind of pavement or sidewalk thereon.
(4) The
purpose, size and location of the proposed excavation or opening.
(5) The
name and business residence address of the person for whose benefit the work is
to be done.
(6) The
time during which it is desired such opening is to be permitted.
B. Plat
or pencil tracing. When required by the Superintendent of Streets, the
application shall be accompanied by a plat or pencil tracing or sketch showing
the location, character, and dimensions of the proposed excavation or opening
for the installations involving the location of pipes, conduits, wires or other
conductors.
§ 171-3. Bond.
The
application shall be accompanied by a bond to the Village of New York Mills,
approved as to form by the Village Attorney and in the penal sum of $5,000 with
sufficient surety or sureties or sufficient collateral security to safeguard
the public, conditioned for the faithful performance of such work in accordance
with the rules, regulations, and ordinances of the Village within the time
fixed by the Superintendent of Streets and for the maintenance of such
condition for such length of time as shall be required by the Superintendent of
Streets; and that such person will indemnify and save harmless the Village
against and from any and all damages or claims for damages, loss, costs,
charges or expense that may be brought against it by any person, for or on
account of injury to persons or property resulting from or occasioned by reason
of any such excavation or opening; provided, however, that any person operating
in or using any of the streets under a franchise, or any person who in the
pursuit of his regular calling, has frequent occasion to open or to make
excavations in the public streets, alleys, sidewalks, or other public places,
may file a bond in the sum of $5,000 conditioned as above to cover all excavations
made by him for a period of two years, from the date of filing, but permits for
all excavations must be applied for and issued as herein provided.
§ 171-4. Granting of
permit.
The
Superintendent of Streets, upon the filing of the application and bond and the
payment of a fee as set from time to time by resolution of the Board of
Trustees and the deposit herein required, may in his discretion issue a permit
which shall state the name and address of the applicant, the location, nature,
purpose and extent of the excavation or opening, the kind or kinds of pavement
to be disturbed by the applicant and the dates of granting and expiration of
the permit. All permits shall be consecutively numbered, and shall be made in
duplicate, one copy to be given to the applicant, and one copy to remain on
file in the office of the Superintendent of Streets. Such permit shall at all
times be in the possession of a competent person actually on the work and shall
be shown upon demand to a police officer or properly authorized officer of the
Department of Public Works.
§ 171-5. Record of
permits.
The
Superintendent of Streets shall prepare and keep a record of permits issued,
numbered in the order in which they were issued, name and address of persons to
whom issued, location, nature and address of persons to whom issued, location,
nature, purpose and extent of excavation or opening, time in which street is to
be restored, fee paid and such other and further items as will enable anyone to
obtain a complete history of each permit from its issuance to its termination.
The copies of the permits kept by the Superintendent of Streets may be used as
a basis for such record.
§ 171-6. Guarding
excavations and obstructions.
A. Barriers
and warning devices. Any person making or causing to be made an excavation or
opening in any street, alley, sidewalk, or other public place shall keep such
excavation or opening fenced and barricaded with substantial barriers to secure
public safety and shall place and keep in operation suitable warning devices to
warn all persons of such excavation, opening or obstruction.
B. Interference
prohibited. No unauthorized person shall remove or in any way interfere with
any such warning devices or barriers.
§ 171-7. Requirements
for work under permit.
All work
under a permit shall be under the supervision of the Superintendent of Streets
and in conformity with the following requirements:
A. Commencement
and stoppage of work. All work shall be started within 24 hours after the
receipt of the permit and shall be pursued diligently and continuously until
the same is completed. When in consequence of the weather or any process of the
law, or any other unexpected obstacles the work shall be stopped for so long a
time that public travel shall be obstructed, the excavation, or opening shall
be refilled and repaved, as if the work contemplated in a permit were actually
completed.
B. Removal
of greater area than specified in permit. In no case shall a person open or
remove a greater area of surface and at no other location than that specified
in the original or supplementary application; provided, however, that if at the
time of actually doing the work it shall be necessary to open or remove a
greater area of surface than originally applied for, the applicant shall first
notify and procure the consent of the Superintendent of Streets to do so upon
the condition that he shall and will before 12:00 noon of the following
business day file a supplementary application for the making of an additional
excavation.
C. Intersections
and access to certain facilities. At the intersection of cross streets, not
more than half of the width of the street shall be opened at one time, the
other half shall remain untouched for the accommodation of traffic until the
first half is restored for the safe use. All work shall be prosecuted as not to
interfere with easy access to fire houses, fire hydrants, and United States
Mail Boxes. The permittee must remove within 24 hours all snow and ice that
fall or form upon the street within five feet upon either side of the opening
and keep such space free from snow and ice until opening is properly
refilled.
D. Notice
to utilities. The person to whom a permit is granted shall give notice in
writing thereof to any corporation whose pipes, mains, or conduits are laid in
the street about to be disturbed by such excavation, at least 48 hours before
commencement of the same, and shall at his expense, sustain, secure, and
protect such pipes, mains, or conduits from injury and replace and pack the
earth wherever the same shall have been removed, loosened, or disturbed, under
or around them, so that they shall be well and substantially supported. If any
person shall fail to sustain, secure or protect such pipes, mains, or conduits,
from injury or to replace and pack the earth under or around them as the
provisions of this action require, then the same may be done by the corporation
to whom the same may belong and the cost thereof, and all to whom the same may
belong and the cost thereof, and all damages sustained by such corporation
thereby shall be paid by such corporation may maintain an action against him
therefor.
E. Execution
of work. All materials for paving or macadamizing must be removed with the
least possible injury or loss of the same and together with the excavated
material must be placed where they will cause the least possible inconvenience
to the public. Paving materials and earth removed must be kept separate. The
width of the excavation or opening shall be no greater than is necessary for
doing the work. Sheathing and bracing shall be used when the excavation or
opening is four feet or more in depth. Sheathing and bracing shall be cut off
one foot below the surface pavement and left in place when the opening is
refilled. The street, alley, sidewalk, or other public place must be opened in
a manner which will cause the least inconvenience to the public and admit the
uninterrupted passage of water along the gutter. Excavations shall be made in
the open cut. No tunneling shall be done except by special permission of the
Superintendent of Streets, and then only under such conditions as he may
impose. No excavation shall be under cut or having a greater width at the
bottom than at the top. In case of slips or slides of the sides of the
excavation the same shall be trimmed to solid earth and the top surface cut
back to the limit of the same before any backfilling is commenced.
F. Deposit
required; temporary resurfacing.
(1) Before
an opening or cut is made in a Village street, a uniform cash deposit of $200
shall be deposited with the Superintendent of Streets as a guarantee that the
opening will be refilled and resurfaced on or before the time fixed in the
permit and written notice shall be given to the Superintendent of Streets when
the work is completed.
(2) Such
temporary resurfacing shall be maintained by the person to whom this permit is
issued until the Village or person designated shall permanently resurface such
opening. Refilling shall be done in thin layers not exceeding six inches in
height, firmly rammed until the excavation is filled or to a proper line of
placing the paving thereon. All deficiencies in materials shall be made good with
new materials by the person making the excavation. All materials used for
backfill shall be removed and replaced with a filling of proper consistency.
Whenever rock is excavated not more than 1/3 of the total excavation shall
be refilled with the broken stone, which must be in pieces not exceeding six
inches in their largest dimensions, and mingled with clean earth and sand and
restored in such manner as to insure the thorough and compact filling of all
spaces. All deposits of money herein shall be deemed forfeited and placed in
the general fund of the Village in the event said deposit is not claimed nor
returned within a twelve-month period from the date of the permit. [Amended
11-14-1983 by L.L. No. 3-1983]
G. Surface
completion. In all unimproved streets the surface of the refilled excavation or
opening shall be finished in a workmanlike manner and shall in every respect be
equal in quality, character, and materials to the street surface existing
previous to making the excavation. In all improved streets, the crown of the
surface must conform to the adjacent street surface until sufficient time has
elapsed to warrant the restoration permanently of the paved street surface. All
such restoration of paving surfaces shall be made by the Village and the cost
thereof charged to the permittee.
H. Restoration
of permanent pavement. In the replacement or restoration of the permanent
pavement the Village shall have the right and authority to remove the old
concrete for an area extending at least one foot in all directions beyond the
edge of the original cut, and replace it with new, reinforced concrete, not
less than six inches beyond the joining in the foundation of the pavement and
be laid with the same care in the same manner as the original pavement.
§ 171-8. Duties of
police.
All
policemen shall be vigilant in the enforcement of this article, and shall
report through proper channels any violation thereof to the Chief of Police, on
observing or being informed of the opening of or excavation in any street, and
shall require the person making such opening or excavation to exhibit the
permit therefor, and if none has been given, or if the exhibition thereof be
refused, the officer shall without delay, report same to the Chief of Police.
