In the event of a sudden and emergent break of any water, sewer,
gas, oil or other underground line or facilities which endangers the
life, health or safety of the public or where immediate repair is
imperative to prevent loss or damage to streets or property or discontinuance
of service, it shall not be necessary to obtain a permit before commencing
such repair or before opening the surface of the street. The making
of any such opening or excavation shall be reported to the Police
Department and to the Borough Clerk within 24 hours thereafter, and
an application for a permit therefor shall be made within 48 hours
thereafter.
A permit as described herein shall be required for any tunneling
under the surface of any street for any purpose whatsoever, regardless
of whether or not it involves an opening in the surface of the street.
Any such tunneling shall not be commenced or undertaken until the
Borough Engineer has recommended, in writing, to the Director of Public
Works that it be permitted, and such shall be accomplished only under
the supervision of the Borough Engineer, whose services shall be paid
for by the applicant.
Where the excavation is to extend the full width of the road,
only 1/2 of it shall be made at one time and shall be backfilled before
the other half is excavated so as not to interrupt traffic. The excavation
and backfilling shall be made within seven days.
The permittee shall be under a duty to properly guard the excavation
and stored materials and equipment by the erection of suitable barriers
by day and approved-type lights or flares by night. He shall be liable
for any neglect to safeguard the traveling public.
The Director of Public Works or such other officer as the Mayor
and Council may designate shall:
A. Ascertain whether the permits required by this article have been
issued.
B. Supervise all excavations and backfilling.
C. Report all violations of this article to the Police Department.
The Police Department and/or the designated Code Enforcement
Officer of the Borough of Westville shall enforce the regulations
covering storage of materials, erection of suitable barriers, warning
signs and lights or flares and all other provisions of this article,
so as to safeguard the traveling public.
Except as otherwise provided, any owner, occupier, and/or contractor performing work within the Borough of Westville who violates, refuses to comply or neglects to comply with any provision of this article or any rule, regulation or directive promulgated pursuant thereto shall be liable for penalties as provided in Chapter
1, Article
I, §
1-15, General penalty, of the Code of the Borough of Westville. The continuation of such violation for each successive day shall constitute a separate offense, and the owner, occupier, and/or contractor performing work within the Borough of Westville allowing or permitting the continuation of the violation may be punished as provided above for each separate offense.
Each section of this article is an independent section, and
the holding of any section or part thereof to be unconstitutional,
void or ineffective shall not be deemed to affect the validity or
constitutionality of any other sections or parts hereof.