[Adopted 5-12-2014 by Ord. No. 658]
A. 
This article shall be known as the "Reserve Township 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 Township streets and rights-of-way, and to control the opening or excavation of Township 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 Township street, alley, thoroughfare or right-of-way unless a permit therefore is secured from the Township for each separate undertaking. The Code Enforcement Officer or police officers of the Township shall promptly prohibit any work being done without a proper permit, or contrary to the terms hereof.
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 Township Engineer may require. No permit for any street opening will be granted where the proposed excavation is to remain open and unfilled more than five calendar days. 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 and flashing lights, during hours when the excavation is open but unattended. At all times when work is being conducted under the permit, the applicant must have 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 Township Engineer to be safe and passable for travel by vehicles or pedestrians.
B. 
Any sidewalks or other disturbances within Township rights-of-way shall be restored to their original condition prior to excavation, including appropriate coloring of side walk materials to blend into existing sidewalks. Right-of-way vegetation shall be reseeded and managed until such vegetation has returned to full growth.
C. 
No more than 100 feet longitudinally shall be open in any Township street or combination of Township street and right-of-way at any one time.
D. 
The permit application 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 Township Engineer. Permission for such work shall be specifically included on the permit.
F. 
Excavated or other material shall be placed or stored on the side of the operation farthest from the pavement, but within the Township 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 is encountered, it shall be replaced, restored, strengthened or protected by the permittee at permittee's sole cost and expense.
H. 
No refilling of any excavation or opening shall be undertaken unless or until written permission is received from the Township 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 Township or PennDOT specifications and/or at the specific direction of the Township Engineer.
A. 
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:
(1) 
The public health or safety requires the proposed work be permitted; or
(2) 
Unless an emergency condition exists that requires that the work be performed.
B. 
In the event that either conditions in Subsection A(1) or (2) above are met, the applicant shall be required to pave/restore/overlay a minimum twelve-foot width (or the entire street width), if deemed appropriate by the Township Engineer in consultation with the Township Manager in their sole discretion, which width would run the entire length of the opening, plus 10 feet on each of the two sides of the opening, and shall be accomplished in accordance with the other applicable requirements of this article.
A. 
The permit fee for road openings which are less than 10 feet in width and which extend only to the center line of the roadway shall be set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners for utility companies. The fee to commercial entities doing work on behalf of residents, shall be set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners. This fee will be applied to roads that have been reconstructed or resurfaced within five years of the date of application of the Reserve Township road opening permit. This fee shall be paid in cash or by certified check. Upon satisfactory completion of the work authorized under the permit and certification from the Township Engineer and the Township Manager that all work has been done in accordance with all provisions of this article and in a timely manner under this article, the Township shall refund to the permittee the sum set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners and shall retain the remainder to ensure that the work remains in a satisfactory condition for a period of at least 365 calendar days after the date of the certification. If the permittee does not comply with all of the provisions of this article in a full and timely manner, the Township may use the permit fee to complete the work required under the permit. In that case the permit fee shall be treated as an escrow available to the Township to pay its attorneys, consultants and contractors to complete the work. Any unused portion of the permit fee, after such work has been completed and paid for by the Township, shall be returned to the permittee, less 10% of such unused portion to cover the Township's administrative costs.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
B. 
The permit fee for road openings which are greater than 10 feet and in width and which extend cross the center line of the street shall be set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners for utility companies. The fee to commercial entities doing work on behalf of residents, shall be set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners. This fee will be applied to roads that have been reconstructed, or resurfaced within five years of the date of application of the Reserve Township road opening permit. This fee shall be paid in cash or certified check. Upon satisfactory completion of the work authorized under the permit and certification from the Township Engineer and the Township Manager that all work has been done in accordance with all provisions of this article and in a timely manner under this article, the Township shall refund to the permit applicant the sum set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners and shall retain the remainder to ensure that the work remains in a satisfactory condition for a period of at least 365 calendar days after the date of certification. If the permittee does not comply with all of the provisions of this article in a full and timely manner, the Township may use the permit fee to complete the work required under the permit. In that case, the permit fee shall be treated as an escrow available to the Township to pay its attorneys, consultants and contractors to complete the work. Any unused portion of the permit fee, after such work has been completed and paid for by the Township, shall be returned to the permittee, less 10% of such unused portion to cover the Township's administrative costs.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
C. 
The permit fee for all street openings larger than Subsection A or B above, shall be set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners for utility companies. The fee to commercial entities doing work on behalf of residents, shall be set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners. The fee shall be paid in cash or certified check. Upon satisfactory completion of the work authorized under the permit and certification from the Township Engineer and the Township Manager that all work has been done in accordance with all provisions of this article and in a timely manner under this article, the Township shall refund to the permittee the sum set by resolution of the Board of Commissioners and shall retain the remainder to ensure that the work remains in a satisfactory condition for a period of at least 365 calendar days after the date of certification. If the permittee does not comply with all of the provision of this article in a full and timely manner, the Township may use the permit fee to complete the work required under the permit. In that case, the permit fee shall be treated as an escrow available to the Township to pay its attorneys, consultants and contractors to complete the work. Any unused portion of the permit fee, after such work has been completed and paid for by the Township, shall be returned to the permittee, less 10% of such unused portion to cover the Township's administrative costs.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
D. 
Notwithstanding Subsections A, B, and C above, the permit application fees for private residents of the Township who own property in the Township shall be 50% of the applicable fee as set forth in Subsections A, B, and C above, provided the following conditions are met.
(1) 
The street/road opening excavation is necessitated by conditions existing on the property owned by such resident and such condition is related to domestic sewage, stormwater or other flood condition experienced at that property.
(2) 
The permit application is the individual Township resident.
(3) 
The resident executes an agreement, on a form to be provided by the Township, accepting the placement of a lien on the resident's property in the event that the Township is required to undertake curative work under § 368-31 hereof.
E. 
The resident shall inform the Township within 30 days of the date of completion of the work approved under the permit. After inspection by the Township Engineer, if the work is judged to be complete and satisfactory at that time, the Township will refund the permit fee less the applicable fee set forth in § 368-33. The applicant shall be responsible for maintaining the completed excavation for a period of 365 days from the date of completion and shall repair or correct any deficiencies in the work in accordance with § 368-31. If the resident fails to correct or repair the work within 15 calendar days of receipt of written notice from the Township, the Township may elect to conduct any necessary repair work itself, in which case the resident shall pay the Township's direct costs plus a 10% administrative fee within 30 days of receipt of written demand from the Township. If such resident fails to make timely payment of all of the Township's direct costs and administrative fee, the Township shall be authorized to place a lien against the property in the amount of the Township's direct costs plus a 10% administrative charge. The amount of the lien shall be adjusted each year to include interest at the rate of 6%.
No permit will be issued by the Township until the applicant shall have filed with the Township Manager the following:
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 Township of Reserve 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 $1,000,000 for injury to property arising out of a single occurrence. The certificate shall name the Township as an additional insured party as to work performed upon, under or in the streets or rights-of-way of the Township, and a copy of such policy naming the Township 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 Township Engineer in their sole discretion, the Township 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 Township 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 Township and treated as an escrow fund to be used by the Township to satisfactorily complete such work. Any unused portion of the permit fee shall be returned in accordance with the provisions of § 368-29 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 Township has undertaken work to properly complete the work required under a prior permit.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Provided that no violation has occurred which required the Township to complete the work under § 368-31, hereof, no earlier than one year 365 days but no later than 18 months (545 days) from the date of completion, the area subject to the permit shall be inspected by the Township Engineer who, if restoration shall be satisfactory and in compliance with the provisions of this article, shall certify that such work is accepted by the Township. Upon certification of acceptance of the work, the permittee shall be refunded the remaining amount of the application fee retained by the Township, less all costs incurred by the Township for review, inspection, and oversight.
The Township Engineer shall have the right to observe and inspect all work done pursuant to the permit. The Township Engineer shall insure that all provisions of this article and the terms and conditions of the permit are enforced and complied with.
[Amended 1-16-2023 by Ord. No. 692; 12-16-2024 by Ord. No. 701]
This article shall be enforced by a criminal action in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. Any person, partnership, corporation or other entity who or which violates or permits a violation of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, pay a fine of not more than $1,000, plus the costs of prosecution, and in default of the payment of the fine and costs of prosecution, shall be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 90 days. Each day, or part thereof, that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.