[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Jerusalem as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Building construction — See Ch. 65.
Notification of defects — See Ch. 110.
Transportation of radioactive waste — See Ch. 123.
Snowmobiles — See Ch. 134.
[Adopted 12-12-1966]
A. 
No person, firm or corporation shall dig into or cause to be dug into, through or against any street, road, alley or sidewalk or public grounds any trench, ditch or other opening, except upon a written permit granted by the Town Clerk and under the direction of the Town Highway Superintendent or his assistant.
B. 
Said applicant shall agree to assume all liabilities in case of damages of any kind which may arise during the progress of the work authorized by said permit or by reason thereof and on the conditions set forth below.
[Amended 12-29-1992 by L.L. No. 3-1992]
A. 
Prior to issuance of said permit, the applicant shall pay to the Town Clerk a fee and a deposit for each opening and shall file with the Town Clerk a certificate of general liability insurance with no exclusions.
B. 
Fees, deposits and other forms of financial security shall be as set forth by resolution of the Town Board.
C. 
This section shall not apply to the New York State Electric and Gas Corporation and the New York Telephone Company, insofar as the deposit is concerned.
[Amended 12-29-1992 by L.L. No. 3-1992]
The deposit is to be applied to the cost of repairing or replacing the street or road pavement when work is performed by the Town Highway Department. If the cost is less than the required amount, the sum over and above the cost will be returned. If the cost is more than the required amount, the applicant will be required to pay for the additional costs. If the surface, street or road pavement replacement is made by a firm or corporation other than the Town Highway Department and the replacement meets with the approval of the Town Highway Superintendent, the deposit is returned to the applicant. The deposit for street opening is in addition to the deposit which may be required by the New York State Highway Department on state-maintained streets or roads within the Town.
All persons, firms or corporations making an opening shall remove the dirt from said opening and haul it away and shall backfill the opening made with a good run-of-bank gravel, machine tamping the same in successive horizontal layers not over six inches deep. No backfill of any opening shall be made prior to an inspection being made by the Town Superintendent or his assistant and his approval given to make said backfill.
Any person, firm or corporation making an excavation through a fixed type of pavement shall replace such pavement by putting back the adjoining pavement, a distance of at least two feet on each side of said opening and replacing the same in kind, except that brick pavements may be replaced by adding concrete throughout its entire depth. All materials used in replacing such pavements must be of such a source that bears the approval of the New York State Department of Public Works. All concrete must contain at least six bags of portland cement per cubic yard. Between November 1 and May 1, a temporary fix or winter mix may be used to temporarily fill said opening, said temporary fix or winter mix to be replaced before the first of July following use of said fix or mix by the applicant and at his expense or by the Town of Jerusalem at the expense of the applicant. All of the above work is to be done under the direction of the Town Highway Superintendent or his assistant. In the event that settlement occurs within one year from the time the opening is closed, requiring additional work, the applicant agrees to make the necessary repairs under the supervision of the Town Highway Superintendent or his assistant or said repairs are to be made by the Town at the expense of the applicant who is to be billed therefor. Any cost which the applicant may be responsible for and which is not paid within the fiscal year will be added to the annual tax statement of the property for which the excavation application is made.
In the event that the applicant does not, within 24 hours after written notice has been given to him, comply with the requirements of this article, the work shall be done by the Town and the expense thereof charged to said person, firm or corporation.
[Amended 12-29-1992 by L.L. No. 3-1992]
Any person, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this Article hereby enacted shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $250 or be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than 15 days, or be both so fined and so imprisoned. Any violation of this article shall constitute a violation and not a misdemeanor, and, further, this Article may be enforced by injunction.
In the event of an emergency when the Town office is closed, the Town Highway Superintendent may authorize the street or read excavation, and the permit shall be applied for the first day the Town office is open.
[Added 7-8-1974]
All road openings will be done to the Highway Superintendent's specifications and under his inspection, which will be five feet underground and extend at least two feet past the ditch line and marked.
[Added 7-8-1974]
All driveways will be installed with the Highway Superintendent's supervision and under his inspection.
[Adopted 11-14-2007 by L.L. No. 5-2007]
It shall be the duty of the owner of every lot or piece of land in the Town of Jerusalem to keep the sidewalks adjoining the lot or piece of land in good repair and to remove and clean away all snow and ice and other obstruction from such sidewalks. The term "owner" shall mean the person shown on the most recent tax roll of the Town to be the owner.
No owner, occupant or lessee of any premises abutting on any street, road, highway or sidewalk shall place, permit or suffer to be placed on any sidewalk in front of, adjoining or adjacent to such premises any snow, ice, display signs, goods, wares, vehicles, merchandise, boxes, barrels, junk, debris or other articles or material; nor shall they in any manner obstruct or interfere with the use of any such sidewalk. As an exception to the forgoing, a person may place goods, wares, household furniture or merchandise on the sidewalk for not more than one hour while loading or unloading the same. Written notice of violation of this section shall be served upon the owner, occupant or lessee by the Sheriff, Highway Superintendent or other Town officer as may be designated by the Town Board, describing the violation and requiring the immediate removal of the obstruction. Failure to comply with such notice shall subject the owner, occupant, or lessee to the penalties prescribed in § 140-15 below.
A. 
A sidewalk shall be considered to be unsafe when the Town Superintendent of Highways shall determine that it is so broken, cracked, lifted, spilled, scaled or otherwise defective as to cause a clear and present danger to pedestrians.
B. 
Upon the determination by the Town Superintendent of Highways that a certain sidewalk is unsafe, the Town Board shall notify the owner of the land in front of whose premises the same may be to repair the same within 30 days from the date of such notice (with extensions where necessary as determined by the Town Board).
C. 
Such notice shall specify the sidewalk or portions thereof which require repair or replacement and contain a brief summary of the reasons therefor. Such notice shall be served upon the owner in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the last known address as shown on the latest completed assessment roll of the Town of Jerusalem. If delivery of the certified mail is returned or unclaimed, then service shall be made by regular mail and shall be deemed complete five days after the date of mailing.
D. 
If the owner shall neglect or refuse to put such sidewalk in repair within such time, then the Town Board may cause the same to be done at the expense of the property owner. If said expense, as determined by the Town, is not paid within 30 days after billing to the property owner, the charge shall be a lien upon the property where the sidewalk is located until paid and shall be added to the property owner's next tax bill as an assessment.
E. 
Any property owner aggrieved by a determination to repair the sidewalk or any portion thereof as contained in the written notice of the same shall have a right to appeal such determination to the Town Board by delivering a written request for review of the determination to the Town Clerk within 10 days of delivery of said notice, which the Town Clerk shall thereupon transmit to the Town Board. Upon receipt of a timely request for review, the Town Board shall refer the matter to a person whom it shall designate for the purpose of hearing all evidence and arguments both for and against such determination. For this purpose, the person so designated by the Town Board shall schedule a time and place for such a hearing and shall give or cause to be given adequate notice thereof to the property owner and the Town Superintendent of Highways. On such hearing, the formal rules of evidence shall not apply. Upon conclusion of such hearing, the person designated shall prepare and transmit to the Town Board a recommended decision, based on the evidence and arguments presented, either annulling, modifying or affirming the determination of the Town Superintendent of Highways, together with a summary of the reasons therefor. Upon receipt of such recommended decision, the Town Board shall take the matter up at the next regularly scheduled Town Board meeting and shall adopt, reject or modify the recommended decision. The determination of the Town Board so made shall be deemed final and binding upon the property owner and the Town Superintendent of Highways.
A. 
Any person, partnership, association or corporation who violates any provision of this article shall be guilty of an offense and subject to a fine of not more than $250 and 15 days in jail, for each such offense. Each day of continued violation after notice thereof shall constitute a separate and distinct violation.
B. 
In addition to the above-provided penalties, the Town Board may also maintain an action or proceeding in the name of the Town in a court of competent jurisdiction to compel compliance with or to restrain by injunction the violation of any portion of this article.
C. 
Assessment of costs. In addition to Subsections A and B above, if notice is served and the violation is not remedied, the Town Board is authorized to direct that the work be done and the costs added to the Town taxes on the property as otherwise provided in this article.