[Adopted 5-11-1994 by Ord. No. 456]
Subsequent to the passage of this article, no portion of any highway, avenue, road, street, alley, sidewalk or footpath within the Borough of Aldan (herein referred to as "Borough") shall be opened or excavated by any person, firm, association, partnership, corporation or entity, for any purpose, absent first obtaining from the Borough a permit therefor prior to the commencement of any such opening, excavation or construction. For the purposes of this article, the phrase "any purpose," as used in this section, shall include but shall not be limited to the following: laying pipes, sewers, drains, natural gas lines, cable television lines, fiber-optic lines or electric conduits of any description or from making connections therewith or repairs thereto over setting or planning of telegraph, telephone, cable television, electric light or other poles on or along said highways, avenues, streets, roads, sidewalks or footpaths or for the repairs thereto or renewals thereof or for any and all other purposes.
Before such permit is issued and said work begun, a written application, on a form to be furnished for that purpose by the Borough, must be filed with the Secretary of the Borough, setting forth the purposes for which said highway, avenue, street, road, sidewalk, alley or footpath is to be opened or excavated, and the location of said proposed work, and in such application, the applicant shall agree to assume any and all liability for all or any damages accruing to the public or to the Borough which may or might result from the opening or excavation of said highway, avenue, street, road, sidewalk, alley or footpath.
The application must be signed by the owners of the property for whom such work is to be done or by any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation or entity who shall have filed the same with the Borough. For the purposes of this article, both the owner(s) of the property for whom such work is to be performed and the person, firm, partnership, corporation, association or entity who files the same with the Borough shall be considered the applicant. If, in his discretion, it shall be required, a bond or escrow account in such amount, under such condition and with such surety as shall be directed by the Building Inspector or Zoning Officer shall be deposited with the Borough to save harmless the Borough from any and all damages accruing by reason of the work for which permits may be issued from time to time.
A. 
An applicant for a permit to open or excavate in any highway, avenue, street, road, sidewalk, alley or footpath shall pay, before the issuance of the permit for opening or excavation, a permit fee in the manner and amount set forth below and/or via resolution by the Borough Council for excavations, openings and restoration of any kind and in any location, a sum to be computed by the Borough to cover the actual cost thereof, but, in any event, not less than the following:
(1) 
Permit fees to be set by the Borough Council via resolution.
(2) 
Inspection costs actually incurred by the Borough.
(3) 
Permanent restoration fees to be set by resolution of the Borough Council.
B. 
All measurements required to be made in applying the above fees shall be generated by the Building Inspector or the Borough Engineer or their subordinates and deputies and shall include any enlargement of openings which may be required to be made as an incident of the repair of such paving.
C. 
The above fees are provided to enable the Borough to have the surface of said highway, avenue, street, road, sidewalk, alley or footpath conform to Borough standards and to cover administrative costs.
D. 
The sum computed shall be paid to the Borough along with any escrow amounts under § 213-22. Any balance remaining after all costs are paid by the Borough shall be returned to the applicant within 90 days of final inspection and acceptance by the Borough.
No highway, avenue, road, street, sidewalk, alley or footpath shall be tunneled, opened or broken except with the approval of and upon such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the Building Inspector or Borough Engineer. In no case shall a permit area or any part thereof be closed to traffic without the written consent of the Borough Engineer or the Building Inspector and the Chief of Police or his designee.
A. 
Warning devices and safety measures are required upon all openings, construction or excavations initiated or obstructions created pursuant to a permit authorized by this article, must be properly marked and guarded at all times in the same manner and fashion as would be required by contractors performing construction upon a state-designated highway as required by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation. In any event, all traffic control devices required to be erected at the construction site shall be in conformance with not only PennDOT regulations but also the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
B. 
Safety measures shall be as provided for by the OSHA Trenching and Excavation Standards Overview and the Federal Register Vol. 54, No. 209, October 31, 1989, Part 1926 (as amended), Subpart p, Excavations, with all accompanying charts and graphs.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: These provisions are on file in the Borough offices.
No permit granted pursuant to this article shall be valid unless the operation specified therein shall be begun within a period of 30 days from the date of its issuance, but a renewal thereof may be had without further payment by filing a new application as prescribed in preceding sections of this article, together with a statement in writing stating the reasons that the work has not commenced, for a period of six months from the original issue date.
[Amended 4-13-2011 by Ord. No. 507]
A. 
Any applicant who creates an opening or excavation in any street within the Borough of Aldan shall perform all such opening or excavation projects, as well as the street restoration, in accordance with the standards and provisions set forth within 67 Pa. Code § 459.8, as amended. Similarly, any aboveground construction shall be performed in accordance with 67 Pa. Code § 459.9, as amended. All references within the foregoing sections of the Pa. Code to the "District Office" the "Department of Transportation," or similar references, shall be deemed to be references to the Borough of Aldan.
B. 
In addition to the foregoing construction, excavation and back-filling standards, the Borough Engineer or the Borough Code Enforcement Officer or the Borough Building Inspector shall be entitled to promulgate rules and regulations governing the opening, excavation, backfilling, resurfacing and repaving of streets and roadways within the Borough, and after the same have been approved by Borough Council, any work to be performed by any applicant or permitted as governed by the terms of this article shall be so performed in compliance such rules and regulations. A copy of said rules and regulations shall be furnished to any person or firm seeking application hereunder.
C. 
Under no circumstances, however, shall any excavated material be used for backfill.
D. 
If, and to the extent that any applicant shall open or excavate any portion of a street in a manner which results in 24 square feet or more of such street being excavated on one side of the street only, then the applicant shall be required to repave the street through the full length of the excavations, from the center line of the street to the curb on the side of the street upon which the excavations occurred; if all or a portion of the excavations (which result in 24 square feet or more of street being excavated) either cross the centerline, or exist on both sides of the street, in that event, the applicant shall be required to repave the entire street surface, from curb to curb, for the length of the excavations.
E. 
Whenever excavations are less than six feet apart, restorations must include all trenches together in accordance with regulations. Further, the 24 square feet required for centerline-to-curb or curb-to-curb resurfacing and restoration, shall include the aggregate or combined openings or excavations by the applicant.
F. 
Restoration, backfilling and repaving projects must be completed as soon as possible following completion of the project for which the street opening or excavation was performed. In all cases, temporary restoration shall be completed no later than 24 hours after the underlying work is completed and permanent restoration shall be completed no later than 90 days after such underlying work is completed. Each day that such restoration is not completed in compliance with these time limits shall be considered a separate offense in violation of this section and will be subject to the penalties imposed by § 213-30 of this chapter.
G. 
Under no circumstance may any backfill operation occur without inspection by the Borough. All excavations backfilled without inspection or supervision will be subject to re-excavation at the discretion of the Borough Engineer or the Building Inspector.
H. 
If, within one year after the installation of the permanent paving, restoration or backfilling, defects appear within the street surface restored by the applicant, the applicant shall reimburse the Borough for all fees and costs of all necessary repairs, reconstruction or restoration, including all engineering and legal fees and expenses associated with the same or for the collection of such.
Whenever the exigencies of public health or safety require that immediate or instant repairs be made and the procurement of a permit prior to the commencement of the work is impracticable it shall be lawful for said work to be commenced without a permit, provided that an application for said permit is filed and the proper fee paid within 48 hours from the time when the emergency arose, which application shall set forth the nature of the exigency aforesaid, and provided further that any person or persons, firm, partnership, association, corporation or entity beginning said work within the provisions of this action shall do so subject to the conditions and obligations imposed by this article upon persons, firms, partnerships, associations, corporations and entities opening or excavating highways, roads, avenues or streets as though an application for a permit had been filed.
No permit fee paid within this article shall be considered to be in lieu of any annual license fees now required to be paid or which may at any time be required to be paid by ordinance of the Borough of Aldan.
A. 
Penalties. Any person, firm, corporation or entity who or which fails to comply with any or all of the requirements or provisions of this article or who or which fails or refuses to comply with any notice, order or direction of the Building Inspector or any other authorized official or officer of the Borough shall be guilty of a summary offense and, upon conviction, shall pay a fine to the Borough of Aldan of not more than $1,000 plus the costs of prosecution, including all attorney's fees, and/or be sentenced to a term of incarceration not to exceed 30 days. Each day during which any violation of this article continues shall constitute a separate offense.
B. 
Remedies. In addition to the above penalties, all other actions are hereby reserved, including an action in equity for the enforcement of this article, with the defendant being responsible for all costs and expenses, including attorney's fees, associated with such an enforcement or equity proceeding or action. The imposition of a fine or penalty for any violation of or noncompliance with this article shall not excuse the violation or noncompliance or permit it to continue; and all such persons, firms, corporations, entities, etc., shall be required to correct or remedy such violations and noncompliance within a reasonable time. Any structure, opening, excavation, utilities relocation, etc., in noncompliance with this article may be declared by the Borough to be a public nuisance and abatable as such pursuant to the provisions of Ordinance No. 436, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 167, Nuisances.