[Adopted 3-27-1923 by Ord. No. 128]
[Amended 5-17-1976 by Ord. No. 380, approved 5-17-1976]
Under the following rules and regulations, the Borough Council may authorize the space beneath the sidewalks and footways to be occupied by the owners of properties abutting or fronting on said sidewalks and footways, and upon application made to the Borough Secretary for such permit, the Secretary is hereby authorized to issue same for Borough Council if it meets with the Secretary's approval under the following conditions, regulations and restrictions. The fee for granting such permit shall be $2.50, which shall accompany the application.
The space which may be occupied by a property owner under a sidewalk on the front or side of his building shall be limited to the space between the building line and six inches from outside of curb. In no case shall an area or vault be built under an alley or under an entrance to an alley, street or public driveway.
No vaults shall be so constructed as to interfere with any sewer or water pipe, fire hydrant, manhole, gas pipe or other public work or improvement, nor with any conduit carrying electric current, light, power, fire alarm or police wires; and the Borough of Pen Argyl, in granting permits to build vaults under public property, reserves the right to at any time construct or to give a franchise to construct, under, over or through such vault space, water or gas pipes, conduits for electricity, heat or power or any other pipes or underground conduits needed for the public service that the Borough of Pen Argyl may deem necessary to be placed therein, below or through the space occupied by the vault, without compensation. The Borough also reserves the right, after the passage of the necessary ordinance, to charge and collect a reasonable rental for the use of excavated spaces under sidewalks.
Retaining walls, if built of brick, shall be not less than 16 inches thick at the top and shall average not less than 20 inches in thickness up to 10 feet in clear height above the cellar floor; if the wall is battered it shall be not less than 24 inches thick at the bottom; and for every additional three feet or part thereof over 10 feet in height, four inches shall be added to the thickness at the bottom. Space may be left in the retaining wall for cellar door opening up to the inside of the curbline. The wall in such cases shall be constructed with offsets in a manner approved by the Borough Engineer and Sidewalk Committee of the Borough Council.
All retaining walls shall be laid up in cement mortar and shall be well grouted in against the earth bank, bricks or stone to be well bonded and pointed on the inside for the entire height. Concrete, mixed in accordance with the formula adopted by Council, may be substituted for brick, and such concrete retaining wall shall be constructed of the same dimensions as given above.
The roofs of all vaults shall be of iron, flagging, concrete, terra-cotta or hard brick. The sidewalk paving shall be of concrete, subject to the approval of the Borough Engineer and Sidewalk Committee of the Borough Council.
When sidewalk vaults, under a separate permit, are constructed after a building is erected, they shall be so constructed as to obstruct as little as possible the use of said sidewalks during their construction and shall in all respects comply with the provisions of this article. Whenever the grade is changed, sidewalks over vaults shall be repaved at the expense of the owner of abutting property to comply with the new grades.
[Amended 1-26-1956 by Ord. No. 262]
No open area shall hereafter be constructed in any sidewalk nor shall any steps or stairway be constructed within the lines of the sidewalk leading to an areaway or basement of a building without prior approval by the Borough Council, such approval to be based upon recommendations of the Borough Engineer, which recommendations may include specified conditions that shall be adhered to in the construction of such open area, steps or stairway. Areaways for light and air may, however, be constructed in a sidewalk if properly covered with an approved grating; provided, however, that no such open grating shall extend more than three feet from the building line and that no grating shall occupy more than 1/2 of the width of any sidewalk less than six feet wide; provided also that for purposes of ventilation, narrow gratings opening into sidewalk vaults may be placed against the curb, of a dimension not exceeding one foot in width and three feet in length, running with the curb and not exceeding one such grating for every six lineal feet of sidewalk. Areas or vaults in a sidewalk may be covered with glass floor lights; when such floor lights or prisms are over two inches in diameter, they shall be at least 1 3/4 inches thick at the edges, but may be concaved on lower sides; such vault coverings shall be roughened to avoid danger to pedestrians and shall otherwise be subject to the approval of the Borough Engineer and Sidewalk Committee of the Borough Council.
[Amended 5-17-1976 by Ord. No. 380, approved 5-17-1976]
All persons, firms, corporations or property owners making application for a permit or permits herein provided for shall, upon the Borough Secretary's granting such permit, be required to furnish a bond indemnifying and saving harmless the Borough of Pen Argyl from any damage by reason of the construction of such sidewalk vaults. The amount of said bond and term of the bond shall be fixed and determined by the Borough Council.