City of Pittston, PA Openings and Excavations

Persons or corporations now or hereafter owning or operating in this commonwealth equipment or facilities for:

Producing, generating, transmitting, distributing, or furnishing natural or artificial gas, electricity, or steam for the production of light, heat, or power to or for the public.

Diverting, developing, pumping, impounding, distributing, or furnishing water to or for the public.

(c)

Transporting or conveying natural or artificial gas, crude oil, gasoline, or petroleum products, by pipelines or conduits, to or for the public.

(d)

Conveying or transmitting messages, communications, or data by telephone, telegraph, wire, fiber optic cable, or any other electric/electronic means, to or for the public.

The term "public utility" shall not include:

Any person or corporation, not otherwise a public utility, who or which furnishes services only to himself/herself/itself.

Any bona fide cooperative association which furnishes services only to its stockholders or members on a nonprofit basis.

(c)

Any producer of natural gas not engaged in distributing such directly to the public for compensation.

SERVICE

Used in this article in its broadest and most inclusive sense and includes any and all acts done, rendered, or performed and any and all things furnished or supplied and any and all facilities used, furnished, or supplied by public utilities in the performance of their duties under this article to their patrons, employees or other public utilities and the public, as well as the interchange of facilities between two or more of them.

SPECIAL PAVEMENT

Riding surfaces of concrete, brick, belgian block, or cobblestone.

STREET

Includes any cartway, street, highway, road, land, court, alley, public square, or place of whatever nature, whether dedicated or not, open to the use of the public as a matter of right for purposes of vehicular travel.

STREETSCAPE

Includes areas of the downtown business district and other such areas as designated by the City Council that include special pavement, streetlighting and other improvements that differ from ordinary street paving and infrastructure.

UTILITY CORRIDOR

An area within any public right-of-way, usually underground but not limited to same, reserved for and assigned to a specified utility by the City. Also, the area to be used by the specified utility for placing and operating its facilities for transmitting and distributing its particular commodity or service.

UTILITY RELOCATION

Includes, but is not limited to, the adjustment, replacement, or relocation of utility facilities as required by street construction or repaving projects, such as removing and/or reinstalling the facility, acquiring the necessary rights-of-way, moving or rearranging existing facilities, changing the type of facility, and any necessary safety/protective measures. It also means the construction of a replacement facility functionally equal to the existing facility, where necessary for the continuous operation of the utility service, the project economy, or sequence of street construction.

WORK

The furnishing of all equipment, labor, materials, accessories, incidentals, bonds, and insurance necessary or convenient to the successful completion of the project and the fulfillment of all duties and obligations imposed by this article.

ZONING

The Zoning Ordinance of the City of Pittston.[1]

[1]

Editor's Note: See Ch. 480, Zoning.

§ 424-30 Administration.

This article shall be administered by the City Code Enforcement Officer under the direction of the City Administrator.

§ 424-31 Procedures.

The following procedures shall be followed in the making of any opening into a street, sidewalk, public right-of-way or public property in the City of Pittston:

Pave cut permit required.

Applicability. A pave cut permit issued by the Code Enforcement Officer must first be obtained before any opening can be made in any City public property or right-of-way or in any other area under the jurisdiction of this article, except for the cartway and rights-of-way of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania owned and maintained highways.

Normal and emergency procedures. Under normal circumstances, the normal pave cut permit procedure shall be followed. In the event of an emergency, as defined in this article, the emergency pave cut permit procedure shall be followed.

Utility main installation. In the event a public utility proposes to install a new utility main and repave the entire roadway/restore sidewalks, driveway aprons and other affected areas of public property, the City retains the right to waive the pave cut permit fee required under this article. Such agreement shall be in writing and subject to approval by the City Administrator. The City Administrator will notify the Code Enforcement Officer of all such agreements. In the event fees are so waived, all applicable requirements under this article shall still be enforced.

Requirements for all applicants. All applicants for pavement cut permits shall comply with the following regulations:

Completed application. An applicant must complete the application for a pave cut permit as provided by the Code Enforcement Officer.

Pennsylvania One Call. All applicants and City pave cut permit holders shall utilize the Pennsylvania One Call System, in accordance with commonwealth law. The City of Pittston is not responsible to contact Pennsylvania One Call on behalf of any applicant or for any issued pave cut permittee and assumes no liability for contacting Pennsylvania One Call.

Required insurance.

The applicant shall protect, defend, indemnify, and save harmless the City, its officers, employees, and/or agents thereof from all claims, suits, actions, and proceedings of every nature and description that may be brought for or on account of any injuries or damages to persons or public or private property because of any materials or appliances used in the work or by or on account of improper materials or workmanship or for or on account of any accident or any other act, negligence or omissions of said applicant or his agents, servants or employees, and the City shall not in any way be liable therefor during the progress of the work and the warranty period following the completion of the work. Minimum insurance shall be:

[1]

Five million dollars liability per individual with $1,000,000 minimum for each occurrence for bodily injury.

[2]

Five million dollars liability for property damage.

The City Solicitor reserves the right to require a higher level of insurance if the Solicitor determines such is required.

(c)

Evidence of insurance in the form of a certificate or letter executed by a duly authorized representative of the applicant's insurance carrier shall be submitted to the City before a pave cut permit can be issued. Such evidence of insurance shall include the provision that the City shall be given proper advance notice of at least 30 days of cancellation or any material alteration in the applicant's policy. Each certificate of insurance shall name the City of Pittston as additional insured. Evidence of insurance shall be presented to the City in accordance with the above prior to the start of any work. This requirement applies to all utilities, contractors, subcontractors, and subtier subcontractors.

(4)

Bonding for large or complicated projects. In addition to required insurance, if the Code Enforcement Officer determines an application is for a large, complicated or unusual excavation, the Code Enforcement Officer shall inform the City Administrator. The City Administrator, in consultation with the City Engineer and City Solicitor, may require the applicant to place a surety performance bond with the City Treasurer before the pave cut permit is issued. The terms and conditions of the bond shall be set by the City Administrator in consultation by the City Solicitor and City Engineer. The purpose of the bond will solely be to indemnify the City against the cost of any repairs and/or restoration in the event the applicant fails to complete the work.

(5)

Bonding in other circumstances. If a an applicant in the past five years has been convicted of an offense under the provisions of this article or been issued a stop-work order more than once in the past five years, the Code Enforcement Officer may require the posting of a performance bond in such amount as determined by the City Engineer, sufficient in amount to cover the restoration work in the application.

Normal pave cut permit procedure. The following procedures and regulations shall apply to normal (nonemergency) pave cut permits:

Application form. Applications for a pave cut permit shall be available from the City of Pittston Code Enforcement Officer or his agent at the City Hall, 35 Broad Street, Pittston, PA.

Required information.

Plot plan. A sketch, on minimum eight-and-one-half-inch by eleven-inch paper, shall be submitted with the application. The sketch shall show North directional arrow, two nearest addresses, the size of the pave cut, and the location, measured from two permanent landmarks (utility poles, curb, street corner).

Other information required. The sketch shall include the following information: date, public utility/municipal corporation name, address, phone number, name of contact person, reason for and description of work, work schedule, contractor/subcontractor name, address, phone number, and name of contact person.

Permit issued. Upon review and approval of the application, the Code Enforcement Officer shall issue a pavement cut permit. Such permit shall be displayed at the work site if practicable or retained by the applicant for presentation on request.

(4)

Agent. An authorized agent of the applicant can complete the application.

(5)

Time for application. Applications for nonemergency work shall be completed a minimum of 48 hours prior to the start of work.

Emergency permit procedure.

Definition of "emergency." An "emergency" is defined as a leaking or collapsed gas or water main or service; a malfunctioning electrical or telephone or fiber optic line; or a blocked or collapsed sewer main or lateral that poses an immediate threat to public safety or interference with ordinary utility services.

Notification required. When an emergency repair is needed during normal business hours of the Code Enforcement Office, the applicant shall notify the Code Enforcement Office prior to beginning work. In the event of an emergency occurring during hours the Code Enforcement Office is not open, the applicant shall notify the City Code Enforcement Officer on the next business day after the emergency repair and inform them that an emergency existed, the day, time, and location of the pave cut.

Post-emergency repair. Following the emergency repair, all procedures as set forth in this article must be followed to obtain the permit for the repair.

(4)

Emergency permit work to follow requirements of this article. All work being done under emergency conditions must follow the regulations of this article.

Stop-work order. The City Code Enforcement Officer is authorized to issue a stop-work order for any work subject to the jurisdiction of this article being performed at any time not in conformance with this article. The issuance of a stop-work order and the stopping of work will not prevent the Code Enforcement Officer from issuing a citation pursuant to § 424-46, Violations and penalties, of this article.

Refusal of permit. The Code Enforcement Officer reserves the right to deny a permit to any contractor who has a history of not performing work in accordance with City ordinances.

Safety precautions. During the progress of the work, the applicant shall provide and maintain such barricades, warning signs and flagpersons as deemed necessary by the Code Enforcement Officer and/or City Police Department to prevent accidents to the public and/or adjoining tenants. Minimum precautions must include, but are not limited to, advance warning signals on all approaches to the work, safe crossing for pedestrians each 300 feet, and barricades with flashers on each exposed side at fifty-foot intervals. At the cessation of each day's work, adequate steel plates shall be placed over all excavations greater than two inches in depth to ensure full traffic flow. Excavations less than two inches in depth shall have blinking warning lights and any other Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) required safety warnings. Excavations greater than one inch in depth shall have the edges tapered to provide a smooth transition of vehicles. The maximum length of any opening in any roadway shall be 200 feet, unless otherwise approved in writing by the Code Enforcement Officer or his agent. All precautions shall be in accordance with the "Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices," latest edition, as adopted by the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Part IV, "Traffic Controls for Street and Highway Construction and Maintenance Operations," latest edition, PennDOT requirements, and any other federal, state, or local requirements.

Road closing.

Full closing of roadways. Roadways shall not be completely closed to traffic unless, as determined by the Code Enforcement Officer, in consultation with the Chief of Police, safety requires it. If an excavation permit requires the closing of a City street open to traffic, the applicant shall be responsible to inform the City Streets and Sanitation Department, Police Department, and Fire Department prior to the closure and when the closure is complete. "Road Closed" signs must be placed as prescribed by law, and "Detour" routes may be required to be developed and are the responsibility of the applicant as determined by the Code Enforcement Officer.

Partial closing of roadways. The permittee shall be responsible for the maintenance and protection of traffic during partial closure of roadways under a permit issued by this article. The permit holder shall inform the Police, Fire and Streets and Sanitation Departments of any partial road closures prior to the commencement of work.