[Adopted 12-13-1933 by Ord. No. 464, approved 12-13-1933]
No person, firm, unincorporated association
or corporation shall open or break any part of the surface of any
highway, street, lane, alley, curb, gutter or sidewalk within the
Borough of Prospect Park, for any purpose whatsoever, without first
making application for and obtaining a permit therefor from the Secretary
of the Council and complying with all of the provisions of this article;
provided, however, that emergency repairs may be made to pipes, conduits
or other underground structures without first applying for or obtaining
a permit, provided that a permit is obtained for such work within
36 hours after the work is commenced. During the time within which
any of the streets, alleys, curbs, gutters or sidewalks are under
course of reconstruction and until such street, alley, curb, gutter
or sidewalk reconstruction work shall have been accepted by the Borough,
no applicant will be permitted to enter thereon for the purpose of
making any excavation whatever without first having obtained the consent
for the issuance of a permit from the Highway Committee of the Council
in writing.
A.
Applications for the permit required by § 145-1 of this article shall be in writing on a form which shall be available at the office of the Secretary of the Council; shall set forth the purpose, location and dimensions of such opening or breaking; shall contain an acceptance by the applicant of the provisions of this article and an agreement to comply therewith; and shall be signed by the person, firm, unincorporated association or corporation which is to do the work.
B.
All permits shall expire at the end of 30 days from
the date of issue, unless the work for which the permit is issued
is commenced within that time, and shall lapse at the expiration of
six months from the date of issue.
C.
No permit, except for emergency repairs, shall be
issued during the months of November, December, January and February.
D.
Work commenced under a permit issued under this article
shall be prosecuted and completed with reasonable diligence.
E.
Permits issued under this article shall not be transferable.
[Amended 6-13-1934 by Ord. No. 470, approved 6-13-1934]
A.
No permit shall be issued to any applicant who has,
prior to the time of making application, failed to comply with the
provisions of this article in carrying out work previously done under
a permit issued in pursuance of this article, nor to any applicant
who has failed or refused to obtain a permit where such is required
by this article.
B.
An applicant for a permit shall, before the permit
issues, deliver to the Secretary of the Council his, her or its agreement
in writing with the Borough to comply with the provisions of this article
and to indemnify and save harmless the Borough of Prospect Park from
any and all actions, suits, claims, demands, damages and liabilities
which may thereafter arise or result from or by reason of any opening,
breaking or excavation for which the permit is sought, and failure
to guard and/or refill the same properly.
C.
The applicant shall also, before the permit issues,
furnish a certificate from a responsible indemnity insurance company
showing that the applicant has public liability insurance in the amount
of $5,000 for death of or injury to one person in one accident and
$10,000 for death of or injury to more than one person in one accident,
and that such insurance is then in force and will cover accidents
resulting from the opening proposed.
[Amended 6-13-1934 by Ord. No. 470, approved 6-13-1934; 7-9-1941 by Ord. No.
574, approved 7-9-1941]
A.
B.
The fee shall be paid to the Secretary of the Council
for the use of the Borough before the issuance of the permit.
[Amended 6-13-1934 by Ord. No. 470, approved 6-13-1934; 7-9-1941 by Ord. No.
574, approved 7-9-1941; 5-14-1952 by Ord. No. 665, approved 5-14-1952]
A.
The applicant shall, at the time the permit issues,
deposit with the Secretary of the Council, for each square yard or
fraction thereof of paved surface of any highway, street, lane, alley,
curb, gutter or sidewalk to be opened or broken, the sum set forth
in the following schedule:
(1)
Highway surfaces:
(a)
Water-bound macadam, $8 for the first square
yard or fraction thereof and $5 for each additional square yard or
fraction thereof.
(b)
Tarvia, asphalt or other bituminous bound material,
$14 for the first square yard or fraction thereof and $8 for each
additional square yard or fraction thereof.
(c)
Cement, concrete, brick or bituminous concrete,
$25 for first square yard or fraction thereof and $10 for each additional
square yard or fraction thereof.
B.
The deposits provided for in this section shall be
immediately paid into the treasury of the Borough and shall be kept
segregated from all other funds. So much of any deposit as shall be
necessary shall be used by the Borough to defray the cost of resurfacing
the opening for which the deposit is made, and any excess deposit
shall be refunded to the depositor. In any case in which the expense
of resurfacing shall exceed the amount deposited, the applicant shall
be liable for the excess and shall, upon demand by the Borough, pay
the amount of such excess to the Secretary.
A.
In case it shall be necessary to cross any street
or highway with a conduit or trench, not more than 1/2 of the width
of such street or highway shall be opened or obstructed at any one
time.
B.
In case a conduit or pipe parallels a street or highway,
the trench for such construction shall not be opened up for a distance
of more than 200 feet at any one time.
C.
Tunneling under any portion of any highway, except
under a sidewalk and at right angles thereto, is hereby prohibited.
A.
It shall be the duty of the person securing the permit
to make the necessary excavation, but the material excavated during
the work shall in no case be placed on that portion of the street
used by the traveling public.
B.
Excavated materials shall be so placed and all operations
conducted that there be no interference with the flow of water in
any gutter, sewer, drain, pipe, ditch, culvert or waterway; any gutter,
sewer, drain, pipe, ditch, culvert or waterway which has been injured
or obstructed by any operation under the permit shall, upon notice
from the Highway Committee of the Council, be promptly repaired and
such obstruction removed by the person to whom the permit has been
granted.
C.
Upon completion of the work all excess material from
excavations, together with all other materials not incorporated into
the construction, shall be completely removed from the highway and
the sidewalks and pathways adjacent thereto, and the gutters, ditches,
drains and slopes shall be left in as good condition as they were
before the commencement of operations.
A.
Whenever any applicant shall make or cause to be made
any excavation, trench or hole for any purpose as provided in this article,
he shall, during the progress of the work and until the full completion
of the refilling thereof, cause all necessary barriers and guards
to be placed and stationed in the immediate vicinity thereof during
the daytime in such a way as to provide due and proper warning and
precaution against accident or damage or injury to pedestrians, teams,
vehicles and occupants of vehicles passing or traveling thereby, and
shall from sunset to sunrise cause a red light or lights to be displayed
at all points on the work where necessary to make the existence of
such obstruction or excavation therewith plainly and distinctly visible
from all directions; it shall be the duty of the person to whom the
permit has been issued to keep such red light or lights burning during
the entire night.
B.
Upon notice from the Highway Committee of the Council,
the holder of the permit shall place proper vents at points at which
gas may accumulate and become dangerous.
C.
All machinery employed on the work shall be operated
and all work shall be conducted so that travel will not be endangered.
[Amended 6-13-1934 by Ord. No. 470, approved 6-13-1934]
Whenever any opening shall have been made pursuant
to the provisions of this article, the applicant shall notify the
Highway Supervisor of the Borough immediately upon completion of the
underground work. The Supervisor of Highways shall, upon notice from
the Inspector that the underground work has been properly done, where
inspection is required by any other ordinance or law, direct the person
to whom the permit has been issued to fill the excavation or cause
the same to be done. The refilling shall be done in accordance with
the best accepted practice so as to prevent future settling in the
excavation and of the surface of the highway and shall be subject
to the inspection of the Highway Supervisor, whose duty it shall be
to make inspection of such work. The applicant shall, except in cases
of emergency repairs, complete the refilling before November 15 of
the year in which the permit is issued. Upon completion of the refilling
and the lapse of three weeks thereafter, the Borough shall, where
the opening or breaking is in a paved or improved surface, cause the
surface to be relaid over any such excavation so as to give a surface
of the same character and quality and on the same grade as that existing
before the work was commenced; where the opening or breaking is in
an unpaved portion of the highway or alley the person to whom the
permit is issued shall cause the surface to be relaid over any such
excavation so as to give a surface of the same character and on the
same grade as that existing before the work was commenced.
In no case shall any opening, breaking or excavation for which a permit shall issue under this article be considered in the charge or care of the Borough or any officer or person employed by the Borough. No officer or employee of the Borough is authorized to take or assume any jurisdiction or control in any way over any such opening, breaking or excavation, except as to inspection thereof as herein provided and as set forth in § 145-12 hereof.
Upon completion of the work of resurfacing over any excavation made pursuant to this article, the Treasurer shall, at the direction of the Council, refund to the person who deposited the same, any portion of the deposit, made in accordance with § 145-5 hereof, not expended in replacing the said surface.
A.
In the event of the failure of any applicant to perform
and comply with all of the requirements of this article, the Highway
Committee of the Council may revoke or annul any permit which may
have been issued to such applicant and order and direct such person
to remove any and all structures and property belonging to such person
or placed upon the highway by such person from the highway within
the area affected by such failure to comply with the provisions hereof.
And in the event of the failure of such person so to do, the Borough,
by the said Highway Committee, may take possession of and remove any
personal property from the highway and restore the highway to its
former condition at the expense of such person.
B.
The said Highway Committee shall have corresponding
powers where work, which under this article requires the application
for and the issuance of a permit, is done without a permit.
Any person who shall violate any provisions
of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable by a
fine of not more than $300 and costs of such proceedings or, upon
default of payment of such fine and costs, by imprisonment in the
county jail for a term of not more than 30 days. The continuation
of such violation for each successive day shall constitute a separate
offense, and the person or persons allowing or permitting the continuation
of the violation may be punished as provided above for each separate
offense.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended 4-4-1977 by Ord. No.
948, approved 4-4-1977.
This article shall not be construed to relieve
any person, firm, unincorporated association or corporation from compliance
with any provision of any article now in force or hereafter to be
adopted relating to and regulating house drainage or from compliance
with any ordinance now in force or hereafter to be adopted relating
to construction of and repairs to sidewalks.[1] It is hereby declared that this article includes no provision
relating to the construction, reconstruction or repair of sidewalks
except where the same may have been broken in the doing of work in
which a permit shall or should have been issued under this article.
