Application shall be made in writing for a permit
for any excavation within any roadway, the maintenance of which is
the responsibility of the Township, for any purpose whatsoever. The
application shall state the purpose of the excavation, namely, sewer,
water, gas, telephone or any other purpose. The application shall
be accompanied by an engineered plan, or sketch, drawn to scale, of
the area to be disturbed, including proposed dimensions and restoration
details, and shall also be accompanied by an application fee of $100
and an escrow deposit of:
A. Three hundred dollars for all openings up to 50 linear
feet.
B. Five hundred dollars for all openings consisting of
from 50 to 100 linear feet.
C. One thousand dollars for openings more than 100 linear
feet.
D. One hundred fifty dollars for utility service connections
for approved utilities (utilities where restoration and maintenance
guarantees are covered by annual bonds).
A permit shall not be issued unless and until
the applicant has delivered to the Township a certificate of insurance
evidencing that the applicant has obtained a comprehensive general
liability insurance policy, including underground excavation coverage,
a workman's compensation and employer's liability policy and a comprehensive
automobile insurance policy and guaranteeing notification to the Township
in the event of cancellation thereof. The comprehensive general liability
and automobile insurance policies shall have limits of at least $1,000,000
for bodily injury to each person, $2,000,000 in the aggregate for
each accident, property liability of $500,000 for each accident and
$1,000,000 aggregate property damage. Since the permittee's insurance
certificates do not cover subcontract work, all subcontractors employed
by the permittee must submit their own insurance certificates in the
amounts required above.
It shall be the duty of the permittee to properly
guard any excavation and storage piles by erecting suitable bafflers
during the day and lights during the night, or warning signs and providing
a watchman if deemed necessary by the police and/or the Superintendent
of Public Works, or his designee, and/or the Township Engineer or
consulting engineer. All traffic control devices used on road or street
construction or maintenance work shall conform to Chapter IV, "Work
Zone" of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The
permittee shall be liable for any neglect in safeguarding the traveling
public. If the excavation extends the full width of the road, only
1/2 of it shall be made at one time, and it shall be backfilled before
the other half is excavated, so as not to interfere with traffic.
Emergency street openings may be made without
the necessity of a written application in emergency situations, such
as broken or frozen water mains or other situations which would endanger
public life, health and safety, provided that notice shall be immediately
given to the Police Department and Department of Public Works and
that written application for a permit shall be made to the Department
of Public Works for approval by the Township Engineer or consulting
engineer as soon as practical and, in any event, not exceeding 48
hours from the start of the excavation.