[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Pomona 5-20-1996 by L.L. No. 3-1996.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fees — See Ch. 67.
Firearms — See Ch. 70.
Fire prevention — See Ch. 74.
Noise — See Ch. 96.
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law repealed former Ch. 65, Explosives, adopted 6-16-1986 by L.L. No. 1-1986, as amended.
From the effective date of this chapter, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to transport, store or use dynamite, powder or other explosives within the limits of the Village of Pomona, New York, without first obtaining a license therefor from the Village Clerk.
[Added 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BLASTING SITE
The entire lot or property on which blasting is to be conducted.
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
An engineer or land surveyor, licensed by the State of New York.
[Amended 10-27-2003 by L.L. No. 8-2003]
An applicant for such license shall apply to the Village Clerk on a form provided by the Village Clerk. Such application shall be accompanied by the payment of a fee as set forth in the fee schedule adopted by the Board of Trustees.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The fee schedule is on file in the Village offices.
A. 
Said application shall be accompanied by proof of workers' compensation insurance and a certificate showing that the applicant is a holder of a New York State blasting license, indicating the date of the issuance of said license and the date of its expiration. A certified copy of said license shall satisfy this requirement.
[Amended 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
B. 
The applicant shall attach to the application a schedule of intended blasting, including a range within five hours and three days, the approximate location(s) depicted on a map drawn to scale and the size and number of charges intended to be detonated.
C. 
The applicant shall furnish a bond, in a form approved by the Village Attorney and in an amount approved by the Village Engineer, by which the Village of Pomona and any and all residents which may be affected or damaged by blasting will be adequately protected against damage resulting from such blasting, or, in the alternative, the applicant shall furnish a liability insurance policy naming the Village of Pomona and any and all persons within a radius of 600 feet of the property lines of the property on which the blasting is to occur and who may be damaged by such blasting as additional insured, in the minimum sum of $5,000,000, issued by an insurance carrier authorized to do business in the State of New York. Such bond or liability insurance policy shall be submitted simultaneously with the application. The application shall be deemed incomplete if not accompanied with such bond or insurance policy.
[Amended 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
D. 
The applicant shall furnish a site plan prepared by a responsible party approved by the Village Engineer containing the following information:
[Added 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
(1) 
A survey of the blasting site and its relation to neighboring properties, together with buildings, roads, underground utilities and natural watercourses, if any, within 1,000 feet of the boundaries of said area. An inset map at a reduced scale may be used, if necessary and helpful.
(2) 
The location of any well, and the depth thereof, located within 500 feet of the blasting site.
(3) 
The location of any public or private sewage disposal system, any part of which is within 500 feet of the blasting site.
E. 
The applicant shall furnish the name, address and telephone number of the person in charge of the proposed blasting operations.
[Added 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
[Amended 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
No such license shall be issued until the applicant has demonstrated by written report prepared by a responsible party approved by the Village Engineer, such as an engineer or land surveyor licensed in the State of New York, to the satisfaction of the Village Engineer that blasting is required and that blasting can be accomplished without danger or damage to person or property. The Village Engineer shall certify to the Village Clerk that he has found such blasting to be required prior to the issuance of such license.
No license shall be effective for longer than 60 days. Upon certification by the Village Engineer that blasting is required beyond the original sixty-day period of any license, the Village Clerk may issue an extension of said license for additional periods of 30 days.
The Village Clerk is hereby empowered to revoke forthwith any license issued under this chapter upon said Village Clerk's receipt of a written statement by the Village Engineer or Code Enforcement Officer that this chapter is being violated.
A. 
Prior to commencement of blasting, the applicant shall furnish the Village Engineer with a written report prepared by a source independent of the application and the owner of the property on which the blasting is intended, such as an engineer licensed by the State of New York, of the area within a six-hundred-foot radius of the blasting site(s), including a preblasting survey of existing conditions, with photographs, if required by the Village Engineer.
B. 
The applicant shall provide a minimum of 14 days' and a maximum of 30 days' notice to the public of said intended blasting location by publishing the address of the site and dates on which blasting will commence and cease in the official newspaper designated by the Board of Trustees for legal notice; by certified mailings to owners of property abutting the property on which the blasting is to occur and within a six-hundred-foot radius of the blast site, as measured from property line to property line, listing the name, phone number and physical street address of the blasting company, location of the blasting site, dates on which blasting is to commence and cease, hours and days of operations and notice of where maps and site plans and permits are on file; and by four posters located on the perimeter of the blasting site on poster forms to be furnished by the Village Clerk.
[Amended 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999]
C. 
The applicant shall submit a traffic control plan to the Village Engineer, which must be approved prior to commencement of blasting.
D. 
The Village Engineer or the Code Enforcement Officer shall inspect the blasting site prior to commencement of blasting.
No blasting shall be permitted in the Village of Pomona, except between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., excluding Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (when Village Hall is closed), when no blasting shall be permitted at any time.
During the hours when blasting is permitted, peak article velocity and overpressure produced by any blast at a distance measured by the distance from the blast to the closest structure or building not owned or used by the entity conducting the blast shall not exceed 0.75 inch per second for frequencies less than 40 hertz (Hz) or 2.0 inches per second for frequencies of 40 hertz or more. In addition, air pressure levels emanating from such blasts shall not exceed 131 decibels (dB) for a high pass filter of 0.1 hertz or 128 decibels for a high pass filter of two hertz or 125 decibels for a high pass filter of six hertz. The applicant shall be responsible for placement and operating of measuring devices at generally accepted engineering standards.
A. 
It shall be the responsibility of any person, firm or organization which engages in blasting to maintain verified records of the place, date, time and amount of the charge set for each blast and also to monitor and maintain a permanent record of all blasts with measurements at distances indicated in §§ 65-7 and 65-9. Such person, firm or corporation shall, not less than quarterly and upon demand, provide to the Village Engineer all such records and other proof of compliance to the standards established by this chapter. Seismograph and air pressure readings of blasts shall be taken by a person regularly or routinely employed in the processes of seismograph readings and competent to qualify as an expert witness as to the results.
B. 
Monitoring of blast.
(1) 
The person, firm or corporation conducting the blast is not required to monitor a blast if such blast is designed such that the maximum charge per delay (expressed in pounds) does not exceed the following:
(D/60) x (D/60)
Where D (expressed in feet) is the distance from the blast site to the closest structure or building not owned or used by the entity conducting the blast.
(2) 
A contemporaneous log of all such blasts must be maintained, and proof of compliance with the standard maximum charge per delay shall be furnished to the Village upon demand.
The person, firm or corporation conducting a blast is not required to meet the standards of maximum charge per delay set forth in § 65-10 if the entity monitors the blast and meets the standards of ground vibrations and air pressure levels set forth in § 65-9.
A. 
Any failure to comply with the recordkeeping requirements established by § 65-10 and any blasting which exceeds the ground blast and air blast standards established by § 65-9 shall constitute an offense punishable as provided in § 65-13.
The violation of any of the provisions of this chapter or failure to comply therewith shall be a misdemeanor and be punishable by a fine which shall not exceed $500 or imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both such fine and imprisonment; and for such offenses which are continuing offenses, each day such violation shall continue to exist shall constitute a separate offense. The application of the above penalty shall not be held to prevent the enforced removal of the prohibited conditions by any other means available to the Village Board of the Village of Pomona. In the case of violation of any provision of this chapter by a corporation, the sentence to be imposed shall conform to the provisions of § 80.10 of the Penal Law and the fines provided for therein. In addition to the above, the person or corporation found guilty of any such violations shall be ineligible to apply for or receive a license under this chapter for five years after the date of such filing.
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Pomona may, in addition to all other remedies contained herein, enforce this chapter by injunction.
No explosives of any kind shall be stored at any site within the Village of Pomona overnight.