[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Valley Stream 8-24-1936 by Ord. No. 42; amended in its entirety 8-31-1993 by L.L. No. 5-1993. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Explosives — See Ch. 28.
Streets and sidewalks generally — See Ch. 80.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
PERSON
Includes one or more persons of either sex, natural persons, corporation, partnerships, associations, joint-stock companies, societies and all other entities of any kind capable of being sued.
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 limits of the Village of Valley Stream without first having obtained and having in force a permit to do so as hereinafter provided. In case of 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 Department of Public Works on the next business day by 12:00 noon, and that appropriate application be made in the manner herein provided.
Any person desiring to procure a permit as herein provided shall file with the Superintendent of Public Works 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 the name and business or residence address of applicant, the name of the street, alley, sidewalk or public place in or under which it is desired to make the excavation or opening, the kind of pavement or sidewalk thereon, the purpose, size and location of the proposed excavation or opening, the name and business or residence address of the person for whose benefit the work is to be done and the time during which it is desired such opening is to be permitted. When required by the Superintendent of Public Works, 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 installation of new work or the location and character of the alterations involving the location of pipes, conduits, wires or other conductors.
The Superintendent of Public Works, upon the filing of the application and the payment of the required permit fee and the deposit herein required, may 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, the amount of the deposit paid by the applicant and the dates of granting and expiration of the permits. All permits shall be consecutively numbered and shall be made in triplicate, one copy to be given to the applicant, one copy to be delivered to the Superintendent of Public Works and one copy to remain on file in the office of the Village Clerk. Such permit shall at all times be in the possession of a competent person actually on the work site and shall be shown upon demand to a police officer or properly authorized officer or employee of the Superintendent of Public Works.
The Superintendent of Public Works shall prepare and keep a record of permits issued, numbered in the order in which they were issued, the name and address of the person to whom issued, the location, nature, purpose and extent of excavation or opening, the time in which the street is to be restored, the fee and amount of deposit 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 Public Works, if properly bound, may be used as a basis for such record.
A. 
Each applicant for a permit hereunder shall post an owner's protection policy written by an insurance carrier duly licensed in the state.
B. 
The policy shall be in the amount of $50,000 coverage as to property damage and $500,000 and $1,000,000 coverage as to bodily injury.
C. 
The policy shall cover any and all situations where a permit is issued by the Village and shall specifically indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Village and its Mayor, Trustees, Superintendent of Public Works, agents, servants and employees from any and all claims brought against it and/or them by the third person for alleged property damage or bodily injury allegedly occasioned by an applicant for street opening. Said protection policy may be applied to several and diverse digging situations conducted by the same person, group or authority.
A. 
The issuance of a permit hereunder shall be conditioned upon the applicant's posting with the Village a performance bond, issued by such surety or sureties as the Village may approve, conditioned upon the applicant's complying with the terms and conditions of the permit and this chapter; performing the work in the manner and within the time specified in the permit; replacing and restoring the street, avenue, road, parkway, highway and pavement thereon over every such opening or excavation in as good a condition as it was before such opening or excavation was made; and keeping and maintaining the same in good order for a term as set forth below and complying with any and all ordinances relative to openings and excavations and complying with specifications set by the Village Commissioner of Public Works.
B. 
The amount of the performance bond shall be equal to the value of the works as approved by the Commissioner of Public Works.
C. 
The bond requirements hereunder shall include provisions for maintenance by way of a maintenance bond, which bond shall have a duration of two years from the date of the completion of the work under the permit in the case of all excavations with a depth of 18 inches or less, and a duration of three years from the date of the completion of the work under the permit for all excavations with a depth greater than 18 inches.
It shall be unlawful for any person to make or permit or cause to be made any excavation or opening in or under a pavement authorized after this chapter becomes effective, for any purpose whatsoever, within a period of five years from and after the time of construction of any such paving or resurfacing, provided that the Village may, on account of an emergency affecting public health or public safety and public welfare and which could not have been foreseen, suspend the operation of this five-year rule, and in such cases, upon the granting of the permit, such work may be performed within the five-year period; but the mere failure or neglect of the applicant or other person to do or have the work done before such five-year period, or the inconvenience, by reason of such failure or neglect, to property along the particular street or in the particular public place described in the application shall not be considered to be an emergency. The five-year period shall be deemed to begin at the time of the completion and final acceptance by the Village of any such construction, paving, resurfacing or repaving. Before any street, alley, sidewalk or other public place shall be paved, resurfaced or repaved, notice thereof shall be published by the Village Clerk in at least two issues of the official newspaper of the Village, and copies of such notice shall be forthwith furnished to all public service corporations or Village departments and all owners of real estate, so far as it may be possible to locate them, abutting on such street, alley, sidewalk or public place, in order that such departments, corporations and property owners may lay therein wires, pipes, cables, conduits and the like. Failure to give or receive such notice shall not affect the other provisions of this chapter or the penalties hereby imposed and shall not redeem to create an emergency within the meaning of this section.
Any person making or causing to be made an excavation or opening in any street, alley, sidewalk or other public place or within five feet of the line of any street shall, between sunrise and sunset of every night that the same remains open or danger exists therefrom, keep such excavation or opening fenced and barricaded with substantial barriers to secure public safety and a lighted red lantern or lanterns placed so as properly to warn all persons of such excavation or opening and all obstructions. No unauthorized person shall remove or interfere in any way with any such lantern or other danger signal or any such barrier.
All work under a permit shall be under the supervision of Superintendent of Public Works and in conformity with the following requirements:
A. 
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 obstacle, 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. 
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 Public Works to do so upon the express 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; snow removal.
(1) 
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 safe use. All work shall be prosecuted so as not to interfere with easy access to firehouses, fire hydrants and United States mailboxes.
(2) 
The permittee must remove within 24 hours all snow and ice that may 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 the opening is properly refilled.
D. 
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 24 hours before commencing 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 and replace and pack the earth under or around them, as the provisions of this section require, then the same may be done by the corporation to whom the same may belong, and the cost thereof and all damages sustained by such corporation thereby shall be paid by such person, and in default thereof, such corporation may maintain an action against him therefor.
E. 
The width of the excavation or opening shall be no greater than is necessary for doing the work. Pavement shall be saw cut 18 inches beyond the undisturbed subgrade. Sheeting and bracing shall be used when the excavation or opening is four feet or more in depth. Sheeting 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 of the uninterrupted passage of water along the gutter. Excavations shall be made in open cut. No tunneling shall be done except by special permission of the Superintendent of Public Works, and then only under such conditions as he may impose. No excavation shall be undercut or have a greater width at the bottom than at the top. In case of slips or slides of the sides of the excavations, 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. 
Refilling and backfill.
(1) 
All openings shall be refilled and permanently resurfaced as soon as possible after the work is completed. All materials used for backfill shall be in proper condition. All frozen or wet or soggy earth must be removed and replaced with a filling of proper consistency. Coarse, lumpy or cloddy earth must be pulverized before being returned to the excavation.
(2) 
Backfill shall be solidly compacted by mechanical tamping or other methods approved by the Superintendent of Public Works.
G. 
Mechanical tamping.
(1) 
Excavations shall be power-tamped using an impact rammer type for soils containing varied amounts of silt and a mechanical platform vibrating type for sandy soils.
(2) 
A minimum coverage of three passes will be required for either rammer or vibrator equipment.
(3) 
Rammer-type compactors shall weigh not less than 200 pounds, have a ramming foot area not exceeding 80 square inches and be capable of delivering not less than 200 foot-pounds of compacting energy per blow.
(4) 
Plate vibrators shall be capable of delivering blows of a minimum of 2,500 pounds of impact at a rate of not less than 1,100 per minute.
(5) 
Compact layers of soil must not exceed eight inches in thickness to achieve a minimum density of 95% of maximum density as determined by Standard Proctor Test (AASHO designation T99).
(6) 
Puddling-compacting of the backfill in the trench shall be done by puddling (flooding with water) when granular material is used. The whole fill shall be subjected to puddling at the time of backfill as directed by and to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of Highways or his representative. After puddling, the backfilled trench shall be rolled with a seven-ton roller or eight- to ten-ton heavy rubber-tired equipment to produce equal loading.
(7) 
The maximum size of broken stone or rock permitted in the backfill will be six inches in diameter and placed in a depth of at least eight inches from the surface.
(8) 
All surplus is to be removed at the end of each working day.
H. 
Pavement replacement. All pavement shall be placed on compacted subgrade as indicated above.
(1) 
Bituminous pavement.
(a) 
All stabilized and blacktop pavement replacement shall be hot plant mix conforming to the New York State Department of Transportation Specifications dated January 2, 1990. The pavement shall consist of a four-inch Type 3 binder course and a two-inch Type 6 top course.
(b) 
Asphalt is to be placed in compacted thickness described herein and be compacted with a ten-ton roller, and surface variations in excess of 1/4 inch shall be eliminated or the pavement relaid and sealed as directed.
(c) 
The contact surfaces of the base course and/or adjacent pavement edges shall be painted and sealed with approved bituminous material (Item 407-1, New York State Department of Transportation Specifications dated January 2, 1990.)
(2) 
Concrete pavement. All concrete replacement pavement shall be of the same thickness and reinforcement of the removed concrete pavement and shall meet the specifications of the Nassau County Department of Public Works latest revision. Where replacement concrete pavement abuts existing concrete pavement, suitable expansion-joint material shall be installed and the joint sealed as specified in the above-noted specifications.
In case any person to whom a permit has been granted shall fail to comply with the terms thereof, such permit shall become null and void, and any and all expense which may be incurred by the Village in refilling any excavation or restoring the street to its proper condition shall be borne by the permittee. In case the person to whom a permit is granted shall fail to leave the street in as good condition as it was previous to any work being done under the permit, all expense which may be incurred by the Village in restoring the street to its proper condition shall be borne by the permittee.
All policemen shall be vigilant in the enforcement of this chapter and shall report through proper channels any violation thereof to the Nassau County Fifth Precinct Commander, and the Superintendent of Public Works, on observing or being informed of the opening of or excavation in any street, 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 is refused, the officer shall, without delay, make complaint to the Village through the Nassau County Police Department Fifth Precinct Commander.
[Amended 7-16-2018 by L.L. No. 9-2018]
A. 
Any person who himself or itself or by his or its agent or employee shall make or cause or permit to be made any excavation or opening on or under the surface or pavement of any street, alley, sidewalk or public place without a permit as required by this chapter or who shall violate any of the provisions or rules or regulations made in pursuance thereof or who, having his permit declared null and void, upon the continuance of such work, shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine up to $1,000, and each day on which such violation continues shall constitute a separate offense. Any violation of this chapter or any part thereof shall constitute disorderly conduct, and any person violating this chapter or any part thereof shall be and is hereby declared a disorderly person. In addition to the above stated fine, such person may be sentenced to up to 15 days in jail.
B. 
The foregoing and all other fines provided for in Chapter 78 may be changed from time to time by the Board of Trustees by resolution.
Any ordinance or part of an ordinance inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter is hereby repealed.
A. 
A filing fee must be paid by the applicant prior to issuance of a permit. The schedule of fees is as follows:
(1) 
A fee of $75 for a single opening up to nine square feet.
(2) 
One dollar per square foot for any additional opening.
(3) 
Road opening permit for roads that have been resurfaced within five years of date of application for permit: regular fee multiplied by five.
[Added 5-20-2013 by Res. No. 095/13]
B. 
The aforementioned schedule of fees can be changed by resolution of the Board of Trustees at an open meeting.