No opening or excavation in any street shall extend beyond the center line of the street before being backfilled so that the surface of the street is temporarily restored.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19; 2-28-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-8]
A. 
Any person opening, occupying, obstructing, using, digging into or breaking up any public way of the City, or portion thereof, shall maintain at his or its expense such police officer of the City, but in no event shall there be less than one police officer at each street location designated in each permit required location, as the Chief of Police or his designee may deem necessary, to avoid, so far as reasonably possible, danger to the safety of persons and interference with the free circulation of vehicular traffic and pedestrian traffic.
B. 
Emergency construction. In the event of an emergency which requires the opening, occupying, obstructing, using, digging into, or breaking up of any public way in the City by a person not able to obtain a permit because of the hour, such person shall immediately notify the Fall River Police Department in order to arrange for the necessary police officers, but in no event shall there be less than one police officer at each separate street location or place of such opening, obstructing, using, digging into, or breaking up of such street. The police officer shall be assigned at the expense of such person.
C. 
Notwithstanding Subsections A and B, in instances when appropriate and when possible to protect the construction zone from vehicular traffic and/or pedestrian traffic to ensure public safety, the Chief of Police or his designee shall have the authority to determine that no police detail is needed on all or portions of the project.
D. 
Maintenance. Notwithstanding this section, to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women, when applicable all OSHA standards shall apply. At a site involving a street opening or excavation, the maintenance of the excavated materials shall be laid compactly alongside of the trench and kept trimmed up so as to cause as little inconvenience as possible to public travel. In order to expedite the flow of traffic or to abate a dirt or dust nuisance, the City Engineer may require the permittee to provide two boards or bins; and if the excavated area is muddy and causes inconvenience to pedestrians, temporary wooden plank walks shall be installed by the permittee as directed by the City Engineer. If the street is not wide enough to hold the excavated material without part of the adjacent sidewalk, the permittee shall keep a passageway at least 1/2 the sidewalk width open along such sidewalk line.
E. 
Failure to comply. Any person who violates this § 66-412 shall be subject to a fine of $300. One third of such civil penalty shall be deposited into the municipal treasury and the remaining 2/3 of such penalty shall be deposited into a designated account with the specific intent of maintaining the operations of the Fall River Police Department. A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day on which each violation occurs or continues to occur. Any violation shall also result in the closing down of the opening, obstructing, using, digging into or breaking up of any public way of the City by police officers of the City until compliance with this § 66-412 is maintained.
No more than 250 feet, measured longitudinally, shall remain open in any street overnight.
At the expense of the permittee, all utility facilities shall be exposed or located sufficiently ahead of trench excavation work to avoid damage to those facilities and to permit their relocation if necessary.
Pipe drains, pipe culverts or other facilities encountered in work performed under the provisions of this article shall be protected by the permittee.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
Any person whose facilities are damaged by a permittee may make the necessary repairs and file a claim against the permittee with the City for the cost of such repairs. The amount claimed may be held by the City Engineer from the deposit pending determination of liability for the damage.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
Monuments of concrete, iron or other lasting material set for the purpose of locating or preserving the lines of any street or property subdivision or a precise survey reference point or a permanent survey benchmark within the City shall not be removed or disturbed unless permission to do so is first obtained in writing from the City Engineer. Permission shall be granted only upon the condition that the permittee shall pay all expenses incident to the proper replacement of the monument.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
When work performed by a permittee interferes with the established drainage system of any street, provision shall be made by the permittee to provide proper drainage to the satisfaction of the City Engineer.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
When any earth, gravel or other excavated material is caused to roll, flow or wash upon any street, the permittee shall cause the material to be removed from the street within eight hours after deposit or within such reasonable time thereafter as determined by the City Engineer. If the earth, gravel or other excavated material so deposited is not removed, the City Engineer shall cause such removal; and the cost incurred shall be paid by the permittee or deducted from his deposit at the discretion of the City Engineer.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
A. 
Every permittee shall place around the project such barriers, barricades, lights, warning flags and danger signs as shall be determined by the City Engineer to be necessary for the protection of the public and in accordance with any existing law.
B. 
Whenever any person fails to provide or maintain the safety devices required by the City Engineer, such devices shall be installed and maintained by the City. The amount of the cost incurred shall be paid by the permittee or deducted from his deposit, at the discretion of the City Engineer.
C. 
No person shall willfully move, remove, injure, destroy or extinguish any barrier, warning light, flag, sign or notice erected, placed or posted in accordance with the provisions of this section.
Access to private driveways shall be provided, except during working hours when construction operations prohibit provision of such access. However, the permittee may make private suitable arrangements with the property owner covering access beyond the working hours. Free access must be provided at all times to fire hydrants and to sand catchers.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
Work authorized by a permit issued under the provisions of this article shall only be performed between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the permittee obtains written consent from the City Engineer to do the work at an earlier or later hour. Such permission shall be granted only in case of an emergency.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
A. 
In granting any permit under the provisions of this article, the City Engineer may attach such other conditions thereto as may be reasonably necessary to prevent damage to public or private property or to prevent the operation from being conducted in a manner likely to create a nuisance. Such conditions may include but shall not be limited to:
(1) 
Limitations on the period of the year in which the work may be performed;
(2) 
Restrictions as to the size and type of equipment;
(3) 
Designation of routes upon which materials may be transported;
(4) 
The place and manner of disposal of excavated materials;
(5) 
Requirements as to the laying of dust, the cleaning of streets, the prevention of noise, and other results offensive or injurious to the neighborhood, the general public or any portion thereof; and
(6) 
Regulations as to the use of streets in the course of the work.
B. 
The permittee shall comply with all the City Engineer's conditions except in case of emergency, but even in such case the permittee shall notify the City Engineer as soon as possible of such deviation. The City Engineer's decision as to whether an emergency does exist shall be binding at all times.
All pavement cuts, openings and excavations shall be properly made, backfilled and temporarily surfaced by the permittee according to the following specifications:
A. 
Backfilling and the compaction of the backfill material shall be done in six-inch layers.
B. 
The edges of the bituminous material surrounding the opening shall be clean and free of dirt and particles and be even, prior to the placement of the bituminous materials which will cover the site of excavation.
C. 
The edges of the existing bituminous material shall be coated with RS-1 emulsion for strong adhesion of the new bituminous material. The emulsion should be used at a ratio of 1/20 of a gallon for each square yard of surface to be coated.
D. 
The permittee shall notify the City inspector at the completion of backfilling, compacting, and at the completion of the placement of the bituminous top course, so that the inspector can approve these phases of restoration. The permittee shall not proceed between these phases without the necessary inspection.
E. 
In repairs of trenches, the permittee shall install a minimum of four inches of bituminous material to be installed in 2 1/2-inch and 1 1/2-inch lifts.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
The City Engineer shall be notified by the permittee during the forty-eight-hour period preceding beginning of backfilling of the date and approximate time at which backfilling will begin, except when excused in writing by the City Engineer.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
No backfilling shall be accomplished unless or until the City Engineer or a designated City inspector is present.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
If the City Engineer finds that paved surfaces adjacent to the street opening may be damaged where trenches are made parallel to the street, or where a number of cross trenches are laid in close proximity to one another, or where the equipment used may cause such damage, the City Engineer may require a negotiated contribution from the permittee for the resurfacing in place of patching of such street if the total area of the proposed patch or probable damage exceeds 15% of the total pavement surfacing between curb faces or between concrete gutter edges in any block. Such negotiations shall be carried on and contributions agreed upon prior to issuance of a permit.
Once an excavation has been commenced pursuant to this article, the work of making and backfilling the excavation shall be prosecuted with due diligence.
[Amended 6-18-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-19]
A. 
Upon completion of all work accomplished under the provisions of the permit, the permittee shall notify the City Engineer in writing.
B. 
A certificate of final inspection shall be issued by the City Engineer to each permittee when, in the opinion of the City Engineer, the permanent restoration of the excavation has been satisfactorily made; provided that the work authorized by the permit has been performed according to City specifications.
C. 
Prior to the issuance of a certificate, the City Engineer shall make a final inspection of the restoration to determine whether City specifications have been adhered to.
A. 
The City inspector shall satisfy himself that the backfill material has been properly compacted prior to placement of the bituminous top course. The inspector may, at his discretion, require the contractor to perform a compaction test to verify that adequate compaction has been achieved.
B. 
The City inspector shall make inspections of the excavation at the completion of each of the following phases:
(1) 
Placement of the backfill.
(2) 
Placement of the bituminous top course.
C. 
All backfill material shall be tested for its drainage capability. The inspector must approve this backfill material before it can be returned to the trench.
D. 
The City inspector shall initial the permit form after his inspection of each of the phases mentioned in this section, thereby certifying that he has inspected the finished product of each of these phases of work and has determined that the restoration procedures have been implemented properly.