[Adopted 6-14-1956 by Ord. No. 202; amended in its entirety 1-16-2018 by Ord. No. 415]
A. This article shall be known as the "Glen Osborne Borough Street Opening
Ordinance."
B. The purpose of this article is to provide minimum standards to safeguard
persons, to protect property, to ensure prompt and proper excavation
and repair of street openings and excavations in the Borough streets
and rights-of-way, and to control the opening or excavation of Borough
streets and rights-of-way.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, entity or corporation
to make any opening or excavation in or under any Borough street,
alley, thoroughfare or right-of-way unless a permit therefor is secured
from the Borough for each separate undertaking. The Code Enforcement
Officer or police officers of the Borough shall promptly prohibit
any work being done without a proper permit, or contrary to the terms
hereof.
A. An application for a street opening permit ("permit") shall provide
a specific time during which the street opening or excavation may
remain open, the place where said opening or excavation may be made,
together with the probable length, width, and depth thereof, and such
further information as the Borough Engineer may require.
B. No permit for any street opening will be granted where the proposed
excavation is to remain open and unfilled more than two calendar days.
C. The application shall include specific details on the manner in which
the applicant proposes to ensure safe and expedient traffic flow as
well as measures which will provide for adequate notice of the existence
of a street opening, including suitable barriers, signage, and flashing
lights, during hours when the excavation is open but unattended, all
in accordance with PennDOT publication No. 213, Temporary Traffic
Control Guidelines. At all times when work is being conducted under
the permit, the applicant must have certified flaggers and other personnel
dedicated to routing traffic around the excavation site. A steel plate
which fully covers the excavation and allows traffic to safely pass
over it is required during nonworking hours.
The permit application shall demonstrate compliance with the
following restrictions before any permit will be issued:
A. No opening shall extend beyond the center line of the street before
being refilled and the surface of the street restored to an interim
condition deemed by the Borough Engineer to be safe and passable for
travel by vehicles or pedestrians.
B. Any disturbances to or interference with streets, sidewalks or other
improvements located within Borough rights-of-way shall be restored
to a condition acceptable to the Borough's Engineer, including appropriate
coloring of sidewalk materials to blend into existing sidewalks and
replacement of pavement and pavement markings. Right-of-way vegetation
shall be fully restored in kind and managed until such vegetation
has returned to full growth.
C. No more than 40 feet longitudinally shall be open in any Borough
street or combination of Borough street and right-of-way at any one
time.
D. The applicant for a permit shall provide and maintain all necessary
shoring and bracing of openings to protect persons, roadways, utilities,
and adjacent land and buildings from damage resulting from shifting
or subsidence of the adjacent land or other conditions.
E. No tunneling shall be allowed without the express approval of the
Borough Engineer and at least two Borough officials. Permission for
such work shall be specifically included on the permit.
F. Excavated or other material shall be removed from the site, or placed
or stored on the side of the operation farthest from the pavement
but within the Borough street or right-of-way, and shall not be placed
on private property without the express approval of the property owner,
which must be given to the permit applicant in writing and included
as part of the application. Excavated or other material shall also
be stored and managed in such manner that there is no interference
with the flow of water, traffic and/or pedestrians.
G. Where a pipe drain, pipe culvert or other buried structure or facility
has been damaged by the permittee or any contractor or subcontractor
working for the permittee, it shall be replaced, restored, strengthened
or protected by the permittee at the permittee's sole cost and expense,
in a manner satisfactory to the Borough's Engineer.
H. No refilling of any excavation or opening shall be undertaken unless
or until written permission is received from the Borough Engineer
and such Engineer or his designee is present at the time of backfilling.
I. All openings and excavations shall be backfilled promptly with suitable
materials and thoroughly compacted in layers according to Glen Osborne
Borough or Penn DOT specifications and/or the specific direction of
the Borough Engineer.
No permit shall be issued which would allow any excavation or
opening in a paved and improved street surface, or in the right-of-way
adjacent to the street surface if such activity in the right-of-way
would impair the street surface, of any paved and improved street
surface that is less than five years old, unless the applicant can
demonstrate clearly that:
A. The public health or safety requires the proposed work be permitted;
or
B. Unless an emergency condition exists that requires that the work
be performed.
All restoration work shall be performed to the satisfaction
of the Borough Engineer. Generally, street surfaces shall be milled
and resurfaced full lane widths in instances where street openings
are limited to a single lane. Street openings that result in openings
in both lanes shall generally be restored by full-width milling and
resurfacing. Full-width milling and resurfacing may also be required
on streets with narrow cartways, even when street openings are restricted
to one side of the center of the cartway and in instances where the
applicant's operations have damaged the street surface beyond the
limits of the excavations. The depth of the pavement restoration shall
be as directed by the Borough Engineer, but in no case shall the depth
of the restored pavement be less than that of the existing pavement.
Should the final restoration of any street openings be delayed due
to freezing temperatures, wet weather or lack of availability of paving
materials, all such areas shall be restored temporarily with bituminous
cold patch material not less than two inches in depth. The applicant
shall be required to maintain all temporary paving to the satisfaction
of the Engineer until such time that final restoration is complete.
All pavement openings shall be permanently or temporarily paved before
the street or any portion thereof shall be open to traffic.
The applicant shall be required to submit, along with their
application, video and/or photographic documentation that adequately
demonstrates the preconstruction conditions along the path of the
proposed street opening and all adjacent areas.
Applicants shall be required to submit plans, drawn to scale,
clearly illustrating the proposed location of the street opening(s)
and nature and extent of the work being proposed.
A. Nonresidents. A permit fee shall be required as established by the Borough Council and adjusted from time to time in accordance with the Borough's published schedule of rates and permit fees. In addition to the permit fee, the applicant shall be required to deposit the estimated cost of the repair work associated with the permit. The Borough Engineer shall establish the cost of the repair work based on the application and the design plans provided by the applicant. Such costs shall include all backfilling, temporary and final restoration costs. The deposit shall be paid in cash or by certified check. The Borough will deposit the repair deposit in an interest-bearing account for the purpose of conducting any curative work under §
115-14 hereof. The Borough shall retain the full amount of the repair deposit until such time that all final repairs have been completed in accordance with all provisions of this article. Upon certification by the Borough Engineer that the work is complete, 15% of the repair deposit shall be retained by the Borough for a period of 365 days. At the end of this three-hundred-sixty-five-day period, if the work remains in a satisfactory condition, the Borough shall refund the remaining amount of repair deposit to the applicant. If the applicant does not comply with all of the provisions of this article in a full and timely manner, the Borough may use the repair deposit or the remainder thereof to complete the repair work required under the permit. Any unused portion of the repair deposit, after such work has been completed and paid for by the Borough, shall be returned to the applicant.
B. Legal, administrative and engineering expenses. In addition to a
permit fee and a repair deposit, the applicant shall be required to
deposit funds into an escrow account to cover the estimated costs
of the Borough's legal, administrative and engineering expenses associated
with the permit. The amount of the deposit shall be determined by
the Borough in consultation with the Borough Engineer and the Borough
Solicitor. The required deposit shall be paid in cash or by certified
check. The Borough will deposit the legal, administrative and engineering
deposit in an interest-bearing account. All interest earned on the
account on any legal, administrative and engineering deposits shall
be the property of the Borough. Should, at any time during the construction
associated with a permit, the legal, administrative and engineering
deposit be determined to be insufficient to cover the Borough's costs
for such services, the applicant shall be required to deposit additional
sums as may be determined by the Borough. Should the applicant fail
to submit the additional funds within three business days, the Borough
may revoke the permit until the additional funds are provided. Any
portion of the legal, administrative and engineering deposit that
exceeds the Borough's actual costs for such services shall be returned
to the applicant upon certification from the Borough Engineer that
all work authorized has been completed.
C. Residents.
(1) Notwithstanding Subsection
A above, the permit application fee for private residents of the Borough who own a fee-simple interest in the affected property in the Borough shall be as established by the Borough Council and adjusted from time to time in accordance with the Borough's schedule of rates and permit fees. No repair deposit will be required for a resident provided the following conditions are met:
(a)
The street/road opening excavation is necessitated by conditions
existing on the property owned by such resident and such condition
is related to one or more of the following: flooding, water service,
sewage service, gas service, stormwater surcharge or any other similar
condition at that property.
(b)
The permit applicant is the individual Borough resident.
(c)
The resident executes an agreement, on a form to be provided by the Borough, accepting the placement of a lien on the resident's property in the event that the Borough is required to undertake curative work under §
115-14 hereof.
(2) The resident shall inform the Borough within 30 days of the date of completion of the work approved under the permit. After inspection by the Borough Engineer, if the work is judged to be complete and satisfactory at that time, the applicant shall be responsible for maintaining the completed excavation for a period of 365 days from the date of the inspection and shall repair or correct any deficiencies in the work in accordance with§
115-14. If the resident fails to correct or repair the work within 15 calendar days of receipt of written notice from the Borough, the Borough may elect to conduct any necessary repair work itself, in which case the resident shall pay the Borough's direct costs (including administrative costs) within 30 days of receipt of written demand from the Borough. If such resident fails to make timely payment of all the Borough's direct costs (including administrative costs), the Borough shall be authorized to place a lien against the property in the amount of the Borough's direct costs (including administrative costs). The amount of the lien shall be adjusted each year to include interest at the rate of 6%.
D. Multiple applications.
(1) An applicant who demonstrates, in writing, that it expects to submit multiple applications under this article may request the Borough to retain the repair deposit for the largest of the proposed openings, to be placed in an interest-bearing account by the Borough. Such repair deposit shall be kept by the Borough for the purpose of conducting any curative work under §
115-14 hereof required at any of the applicant's road openings. An applicant who elects this approach and receives written approval from the Borough shall thereafter be required to pay only the legal, administrative and engineering costs of the applicable permit fee required by Subsection
B for each additional road opening application, as long as:
(a)
The applicant fully complies with the other provisions of this
article;
(b)
The size of the road opening for which the application is submitted
is equal to or smaller than that of the original permit for which
the applicant requested the Borough to retain the repair deposit;
(c)
The Borough is not required to conduct any curative work under §
115-14.
(2) In the event that the Borough is required to perform curative work under §
115-14 at any of the applicant's road openings, the applicant shall thereafter be notified by the Borough of the amount of the repair deposit, if any, remaining after such curative work is performed. Within 30 days of such notification by the Borough, the applicant shall replenish the amount of the repair deposit to the level required under Subsection
A for the original permit.
A. No permit will be issued by the Borough until the applicant shall
have filed with the Borough Secretary the following, which shall be
approved by the Public Works Chairman or other Borough Council member:
(1) A certificate or other document, issued by an insurance company properly
authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, evidencing
the issuance to the applicant of a policy of public liability and
property damage insurance in an amount sufficient to indemnify and
save harmless the Borough of Glen Osborne and any adjacent property
owner from damage which may be occasioned by the proposed street excavation
or right-of-way opening. The said policy shall be in an amount not
less than $1,000,000 for injury to persons and $500,000 for injury
to property arising out of a single occurrence. The certificate shall
name the Borough as an additional insured party as to work performed
upon, under or in the streets or rights-of-way of the Borough, and
a copy of such policy naming the Borough as an additional insured
shall be provided as a part of the application.
If the work in opening, filling or maintaining or permanently paving and completely restoring the area of any street opening or excavation or right-of-way disturbance shall not be properly done or shall be unskillful or incompletely performed, based upon the evaluation of the Borough Engineer and Chairman of the Public Works Committee, in their sole discretion, the Borough may, by letter to the permittee, declare the permittee to be in violation of the permit and shall provide an opportunity for the permittee to cure such violation. The violation shall be cured within five calendar days from the permittee's receipt of written notice. If such curative work has not been commenced and fully and satisfactorily completed within such time period, the Borough shall declare the permittee in violation of the permit and shall proceed to contract for such work as is required to fully restore the affected area to its approximate original condition, grade and appearance. In this event, any unreleased portion of the permit fee shall be retained by the Borough and treated as an escrow fund to be used by the Borough to satisfactorily complete such work. Any unused portion of the permit fee shall be returned in accordance with the provisions of §
115-12 hereof.
No new openings under an existing permit shall be made and no
new permit shall be issued to any person, firm, corporation or entity
where either the person, firm, corporation, or entity is in violation
of this article or the Borough has undertaken work to properly complete
the work required under a prior permit.
The Borough Engineer and/or any current Borough Council member
shall have the right to observe and inspect all work done pursuant
to the permit. The Borough Engineer shall ensure that all provisions
of this article and the terms and conditions of the permit are enforced
and complied with.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall,
in addition to loss of the application fee, upon conviction thereof
before the District Justice, pay a fine of not more than $600, plus
costs of prosecution. In default of payment of such fine and costs,
such person shall be imprisoned for not more than 30 days. Each day
such violation is committed or permitted to continue shall constitute
a separate offense and shall be punishable as such hereunder.
In the event that any person, corporation or entity commences
excavation or other disturbance in a Borough street or right-of-way
which requires a permit under this article without first obtaining
a permit, and such person does not: immediately cease work upon notice
from either the Code Enforcement Officer, the Borough Engineer or
a Borough police officer; restore the affected area to allow traffic
to safely pass over the area (which shall include the placement of
a steel plate); and immediately apply for a permit, the Borough shall
be authorized to impound any equipment which continues to work at
the site after the cessation notice is provided.