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Borough of Jenkintown, PA
Montgomery County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
A. 
The following words, as used in this article, shall have the meanings hereby respectively ascribed thereto:
APPLICATION FOR PERMIT
Borough form provided, completed by applicant.
BACKFILL
Earth or stone material placed on pipe or structure.
BOROUGH
The Borough of Jenkintown.
CONDITION OF PERMIT
Requirements and procedures for issuing a permit.
ENGINEER
The Borough Engineer or other person duly authorized and appointed by the governing body to perform the duties of engineer.
GOVERNING BODY
The Borough Council of the Borough of Jenkintown.
NOTICE TO BOROUGH
Notification given to Borough, either verbal or in writing as required by ordinance.
PERMIT
A document issued by the person designated by the governing body regulating the opening and closing of excavations in dedicated streets pursuant to this article.
PERMIT REQUIREMENTS
As listed in borough ordinance.
PERSON
Any natural person, partnership, association, firm or corporation.
RESTORATION
Repair and/or replacement to existing conditions, equal to or better.
SAFETY
Protection of work area and workers to industry standards.
STREET
The right-of-way of any dedicated public street, avenue, boulevard, highway or alley in the Borough of Jenkintown, except for state highways, to which this article shall not apply.
B. 
The singular shall include the plural, and the plural shall include the singular, and the masculine shall include the feminine and neuter.
A. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to drill any hole or make any opening or excavation in any street in the Borough without first having obtained from the Borough a permit pursuant to this article.
B. 
All work authorized by permit shall be done in strict conformity with said permit and in strict conformity with the provisions of this article.
C. 
No permit shall be issued until the applicant therefor shall have complied with the following conditions:
(1) 
Payment of the permit fee, per proposed street opening, which sum shall be for the use of the Borough, provided that the fee or fee schedule shall be adopted by the Borough Council in the nature of a resolution, and said fee or fee schedule may be amended, from time to time, by further resolution of the Borough Council.
(2) 
In the case of a road opening permit, the applicant shall deposit with the Borough a security deposit in the amount of $500. Such deposit may be applied by the Borough toward the cost of restoration of the street opened or excavated if the restoration work is not completed by the permit holder. Any balance remaining on said security deposit may be returned by the Borough to the permit holder, or the Borough, in its discretion, may retain any balance as liquidated damages. In the event that said security deposit is not sufficient to cover all costs of restoration, then and in that event the permit holder shall pay to the Borough the amount of such deficiency within 10 days of written notification by the Borough to the permit holder of the amount of the deficiency.
(3) 
Any person, in lieu of depositing the security deposit as hereinabove provided, may submit a performance bond with corporate surety in such amount as determined by the Borough and shall include such conditions as the Borough may require and approve. In the event that said bond is approved by the Borough and thereafter any person having submitted such bond violates the provisions of this article, the Borough, in its sole and absolute discretion, may cancel and return the bond to said person and require said person to deposit a cash security deposit as hereinabove stated.
(4) 
In the case of an emergency, a person may open or excavate any street without first having obtained a permit pursuant to this article. In that event, said person shall notify the Borough immediately and within 24 hours of the commencement of work apply for a permit pursuant to this article. In the event that said work for said emergency occurs during a holiday or such other day when the Borough office is closed and a permit cannot be obtained, the required permit, under the terms of this article, shall be obtained the first working day thereafter.
Each person requesting a permit under this article shall file an application therefor with the Borough, which application shall state the following:
A. 
The name and address of the applicant.
B. 
The purpose of the application.
C. 
The time and place where the work is to be done or the permit area to be occupied.
D. 
Such other information as may be required by the Borough Engineer or the Borough Manager.
A. 
The filing of an application and the issuance of a permit hereunder shall constitute an agreement on the part of the applicant to comply with all the terms of this article and all Borough ordinances, rules, regulations, standards, specifications and requirements now in force or hereafter adopted, and shall also constitute an agreement to indemnify, save harmless and defend the Borough, its officials, officers, employees and agents, of, from, and against any liability, claim, suit or demand, of whatever nature or kind, whether founded or unfounded, arising from, out of, or related to the design, laying out, permitting, installation, construction, completion, inspection, testing, functioning, repair and/or maintenance of (or the failure to repair and/or maintain) the improvements or any other construction associated with the sidewalk, together with all cost, fees and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable and necessary attorney's fees and costs, and reasonable and necessary expert witness fees and costs) as may be incurred by the Borough in connection with any such liability, claim, suit or demand.
B. 
The application shall be signed by a person who shall in connection therewith have filed with the Borough Manager a certificate showing that the applicant has obtained from a reputable company a policy of insurance with a minimum policy limit of $1,000,000 for general liability for property damage against any claim, demand or action for damages, either to person or to property, which may arise out of any work done or action taken under the application/permit and a workman compensation minimum policy limit of $500,000. No such policy of insurance shall be required, however, where: the work is to be performed by a corporation subject to the supervision of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission; or the work is to be performed by the owner himself on his own property, does not involve the breaking of any improved road surface, is to be completed within seven working days and the cost does not exceed the sum of $2,000.
Fees for work to be performed will be in accordance to the current approved Borough Fee Schedule.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The current approved Fee Schedule is on file in the Borough offices.
Upon the filing of the application and the certificate of insurance, where required, and the payment of the fee or fees and deposit hereinabove required, and in addition a permit fee as set forth in the schedule of fees as adopted and amended from time to time by the Borough Council, the Borough Manager or Building Code Official shall issue a permit which, unless stated to be for a shorter period, shall be good for 60 days and may be renewed for a like period upon payment of a renewal fee. The permit shall at all times be kept in the possession of a competent person actually engaged in the work and, upon demand, shall be exhibited to any police officer or duly authorized employee of the Borough, county or state.
It shall be the duty of the applicant to furnish to the traveling public suitable protection surrounding the location of all openings, excavations, stored materials and buildings or other structures within the permit area, by means of suitable flags and barricades, supplemented, where necessary, by flashing lights which shall operate from sunset to sunrise, or to provide such other means of protection, including one or more flagmen to direct traffic, as may be required by the Borough Engineer or the Borough Manager.
A. 
During the progress of the work, the holder of the permit shall provide and maintain such fences, barriers, "street closed" and warning signs, red lights and other danger signals and watchmen as may be necessary to prevent accidents to the public, pursuant to and in compliance with the standards established by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, as set forth in Title 67, Pennsylvania Code, Chapter 131, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, a copy of which is available in the Borough Office.
B. 
The traveling public, during the progress of the work, shall at all times be provided for and shall be inconvenienced as little as possible. Drainage gutters and inlets to storm sewers shall be kept clean and unobstructed. The amount of trench opened and also the amount unfilled at the conclusion of the workday, if any, shall at all times be subject to the decision of the Borough Engineer.
Upon starting of the work, the permit holder shall notify the Borough for the supervision and inspection of the backfill and restoration.
A. 
Where streets have been recently overlaid within the last five years and/or the street is disturbed for more than 25 square feet and/or 50 lineal feet, restoration will include base repair, surface milling and overlay according to Borough specifications to the extent of milling and overlaying the full cartway, which includes edge of paving to the other side of edge of paving of the entire block, not to be less than 100 feet in length. The Borough specifications are those specifications relayed by the Borough to the entity performing the restoration at the time of the restoration.
B. 
Where streets have been recently constructed within the last five years and/or the street is disturbed for more than 25 square feet, restoration will include base repair, surface milling and overlay according to Borough specifications to the extent of milling and overlaying the full cartway, which includes edge of paving to the other side of edge of paving of the entire block, not to be less than 100 feet in length. The Borough specifications are those specifications relayed by the Borough to the entity performing the restoration at the time of the restoration.
C. 
The Borough shall routinely inform utilities of the Borough's capital improvement programs and of specific projects as they are designed. Prior to the scheduled rehabilitative work, the utilities are expected to perform any needed maintenance work on their below-street facilities and to upgrade them for growth commensurate with the expected life of the street improvement.
A. 
All openings or excavations of streets, excepting drill holes, shall, before completion, be cut with a power saw and not with an air jackhammer or similar device.
B. 
Any person opening or excavating any street shall, upon completion of the project and after notification of the Borough, immediately and completely backfill such openings or excavations, mechanically tamping the same so as to prevent any settling thereof, and shall restore the surface to the same condition as it was prior to the making of such opening or excavation; and prior to the expiration of the permit, shall remove from the site of work all debris, tools and equipment.
C. 
All backfilling and restoration shall be done in strict conformance with the detailed sketches for backfilling and restoration, which are hereinafter set forth in the Borough's adopted construction standards, respectively, and which are a part of this article.
D. 
Where test holes have been drilled, they shall be filled and sealed with hot tar.
E. 
Permanent restoration and backfilling of any opening and/or excavations shall be as follows:
(1) 
A bed of screenings two inches under the utility conduit.
(2) 
From the bottom of the conduit to a level eight inches below the surface of the trench shall be backfilled with 2A modified stone aggregate, mechanically tamped in four-inch intervals.
(3) 
Before completing backfill of the trench, a saw cut shall extend a minimum of 12 inches beyond the trench opening on all sides of the excavation.
(4) 
The next six inches shall be backfilled with concrete or bituminous concrete base course (BCBC) and shall extend a minimum of 12 inches on each side of the trench. If the contractor opts for BCBC, he shall be held responsible for any settlement within one year of the final restoration.
(5) 
The next two inches shall be an application of bituminous wearing course properly graded to the surface of the street and sealed at the saw cut with an approved asphalt sealing material.
F. 
Temporary restoration. During winter construction periods, the trench shall be backfilled as in the first three items of the specifications for permanent restoration in Subsection E above. The final step shall be a temporary application of bituminous stockpile mix to bring the trench to street grade. Periodically, inspection shall be made to maintain the trench in a condition satisfactory to the Borough. On or before May 31 following the date the street cut was first made, the permittee shall permanently restore the cut as in Subsection E(4) and (5) above.
The party or parties to whom or for whom a permit may be issued shall assume all responsibility for the excavations made, shall indemnify and save harmless the Borough from all loss, costs and damages done or ascribed to any act of commission or omission by such applicant in the performance of the work and shall pay the Borough costs of every kind incurred in contesting suits on said account, and, upon notice from the Borough, will assume the defense of any such suits.
Any person or persons, association, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction thereof before any Magisterial District Judge, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $600, and costs of prosecution; provided, however, that no permit shall be issued to any person or persons, association, firm or corporation under this article until all fines and costs thereupon imposed hereunder shall have been paid.
From and after the enactment of this article, it shall be lawful for any public service company, any firm, person or persons or any corporation to install and lay underground conduits for carrying electric light, electric power, telephone and/or telegraph wires under any street within the Borough of Jenkintown, such installation and work to be done under and subject to the supervision and approval of the Borough Engineer, or Borough Manager; and provided, however, that such public service company or companies or party making the installation shall and will obtain a permit and assume and pay any and all costs, expenses, damages and liability of every kind and nature incident to and arising out of such installation and shall assume all liability as hereinbefore set forth in said article and shall conduct the work in the manner therein set forth and shall and will, at its or their own proper cost and expense, restore such excavation in accordance with the specifications set forth here.