[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough
of Closter 9-24-2008 by Ord. No. 2008:1018. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
A.
No person shall construct or cut, break or remove any sidewalk, curbing
or street signage or cause to have cut, broken or removed any sidewalk
or curbing in the Borough without first obtaining a permit to do such
work from the office of the Construction Code Official.
B.
The permit fees shall be determined by the Borough Engineer or the
Construction Code Official.
C.
All work shall be done under the supervision of the Borough Engineer
and/or the Construction Code Official and in accordance with Borough
specifications in effect at the time of such work. Forms shall be
inspected by the Borough before any concrete is poured. All debris
and surface material shall be promptly removed upon completion of
the work. All signs shall be reinstalled at the original or approved
alternate locations.
D.
In the case that the proposed construction is on a street where concrete
curbs and sidewalks do not exist, it shall be the responsibility of
the applicant to submit a plan depicting line and grade of the new
curb and/or sidewalk for review. The applicant may choose to have
the Borough Engineer establish line and grade, in which event the
applicant shall post an appropriate escrow in accordance with the
Borough Engineer's determination.
E.
The applicant shall maintain the premises in a safe manner and shall
provide adequate barricades and lights at his own expense to protect
the safety of the public use in the adjacent streets or sidewalks
and shall indemnify the Borough and hold it harmless from and against
any claim, liability, damage or expense, including attorney fees arising
out of his operations.
A.
Curbs shall be of Belgian block or concrete.
B.
Existing Belgian block curbs shall be retained or removed and reused
if possible, and no Belgian block curb shall be cut or destroyed without
prior approval of the Borough Engineer and/or the Construction Code
Official, who shall authorize such cutting or destruction only if
he determines that reuse of such curb is not possible.
C.
Belgian block curbing which cannot feasibly be reused at the location
from which it is removed but which can feasibly be reused elsewhere
in the Borough shall be delivered by the person removing the same
to such location within the Borough as shall be designated by the
Borough Engineer and/or the Construction Code Official, to be stored
there under the supervision of the Director of Public Works for subsequent
sale or for the purpose of having the same installed at some other
location on a public street within the Borough.
D.
Concrete curbs shall have a minimum twenty-eight-day strength of
4,000 pounds per square inch with air entrainment of 4% to 6%.
E.
The dimensions of newly installed curbs (except for usable or reusable
granite curbs) shall be as follows:
(1)
The depth shall be at least 20 inches.
(2)
The width shall be nine inches at the bottom and six inches at the
top.
(3)
The length of each section shall be 10 feet with the expansion joints
at intervals of not more than 10 feet.
(4)
At driveways, curbs shall be depressed 4 1/2 inches, resulting
in a drop in the curb of 1 1/2 inches.
F.
Curb elevations on newly constructed streets (and on existing streets,
where feasible) shall extend six inches above the adjacent roadway
pavement, provided that where, because of special drainage conditions
or other topographic conditions, such dimensions are not feasible
or undesirable, or where the condition of an existing street renders
such dimensions not feasible or undesirable, or where the paved roadway
exceeds 30 feet, the Borough Engineer may authorize variations from
the above-described design in accordance with New Jersey Department
of Transportation requirements.
A.
Except as provided in Subsection B hereof, pavement within the sidewalk area shall conform to the following specifications:
(1)
All concrete sidewalks shall have a minimum twenty-eight-day strength
of 4,000 pounds per square inch with air entrainment of 4% to 6%;
shall be at least six inches thick in areas crossed by vehicles and
at least four inches thick in other areas; shall include a subgrade
of compacted dense-graded aggregate not less than four inches thick;
and shall be a least four feet wide.
(2)
Sidewalks shall have an extension joint installed at intervals of
not more than 10 feet, with an alternating dummy groove joint at intervals
of not more than five feet.
(3)
Driveway aprons must be four-thousand-pound concrete, six inches
thick, with six by six WWM, and the subbase should be a minimum four-inch
crushed stone base not exceeding 3/4 inch in diameter; the apron shall
be separated from the curb cut with expansion joints.
B.
The Planning Board or Board of Adjustment, in connection with its review of a site plan application, or the Borough Engineer and/or Construction Code Official, in a matter which does not require site plan review, may grant exceptions to the requirements of this section in the event that compliance therewith is not possible or if such compliance would be excessively costly or burdensome and if the noncompliance will have no adverse effect on the condition of the sidewalk involved or the adjacent street and will not be inconsistent with the overall intent and purpose of this section. However, in that case of new construction of an improvement upon vacant land which does not require site plan approval, the waiver procedures detailed § 171-29A(2) supercede this provision.
C.
The owner or occupant of premises abutting any blue stone or concrete
sidewalk shall maintain such sidewalk at all times in good and passable
condition at a grade which will prevent water accumulating thereon
and shall replace any flagstones which become broken and shall maintain
the flagstones so that the joints thereof are even. The surface of
all concrete sidewalks shall be kept properly roughened so as not
to become smooth and slippery.
D.
During the time that any such sidewalk shall be removed, provisions
shall be made by the permittee for safe and convenient means of passage
by pedestrians.
A.
In case any sidewalk becomes out of repair, the owner or occupant
of the lands abutting such sidewalk shall forthwith, upon receipt
of written notice from the Construction Code Official, repair or cause
the same to be repaired and made in a good and passable condition.
(1)
Notice to repair. Whenever it shall appear, upon written report of
the Building Subcode Official, that any curb or sidewalk on any street
or road of the Borough is dilapidated or in need of repair or reconstruction,
the Construction Code Official may cause a notice, in writing, to
be served upon the owner or occupant of the lands abutting the curb
or sidewalk requiring the necessary specified work to the curb or
sidewalk to be done by the owner or occupant within a period of not
less than 30 days from the date of service of such notice. All repairs
should be done to the satisfaction of the Construction Code Official.
(2)
Service of notice whenever any abutting lands are unoccupied and
the owner cannot be found within the Borough. In such case, the aforesaid
notice may be mailed, postage prepaid. In case such owner is a nonresident
of the Borough or his or her post office address cannot be ascertained,
then the notice may be inserted, once a week for two consecutive weeks,
in one of the official newspapers designated by the Borough.
(3)
Failure to comply with notice. In case the owner or occupant of such
abutting lands shall not comply with the requirements of such notice,
it shall be lawful for the Construction Code Official, upon filing
due proof of the service or publication of the aforesaid notice in
the office of the Borough Clerk, to cause the required work to be
done and paid for out of the municipal funds available for that purpose.
The cost of such work shall be certified by the Construction Code
Official to the Tax Collector. Upon the filing of the certificate,
the amount of the cost of such work shall be and become a lien upon
the abutting lands in front of which the work was done to the same
extent that assessments for local improvements are liens and shall
be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of other
assessments and shall bear interest at the same rate.
B.
No person shall place any bridging over any gutter or any pipe or
other obstruction in any gutter without first having secured the consent
of the Mayor and Council.
C.
No person shall place or permit to be placed upon any sidewalk or
sidewalk area any object or thing that shall in any manner encumber
or obstruct such sidewalk or sidewalk area or render travel upon such
sidewalk or sidewalk area dangerous or unsafe. No steps, walls, fences,
driveway curbs or similar features shall extend into the sidewalk
area, nor shall hedges or shrubbery be permitted to project into a
sidewalk area so as to obstruct pedestrian traffic.
D.
No person shall lower a concrete curb for the purpose of providing
a driveway across a sidewalk without a permit. The concrete curb shall
not be broken off at pavement level in order to construct a driveway.
The necessary section of the curb shall be removed and a new curb
constructed, providing a full depth drop section for the driveway.
E.
Any person who damages any portion of the street shall be responsible
for its repair. Said repair shall not be final until approved by the
Construction Code Official or Borough Engineer.
