[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Sudbury
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted as Art. XX of the General Bylaws]
This bylaw is enacted pursuant to MGL c. 166, §§ 21,
22, 22C and 24, and shall be construed in a manner consistent with
the provisions therein and the definitions in MGL c. 166, § 22A.
This bylaw does not apply to transmission lines carrying electric
power in excess of 20,000 volts, phase-to-phase.
A.
The Select Board shall adopt, and may from time to time amend, rules
and regulations to effectuate the purposes of the bylaw, which shall
be consistent with this bylaw and applicable provisions of the General
Laws, and shall file a copy of said rules and regulations with the
Town Clerk. Such rules shall prescribe, at a minimum, safety, environmental
and aesthetic standards for the placement and numbers of poles, wires
and associated overhead structures.
B.
The Select Board may grant a waiver from its rules and regulations,
on a case-by-case basis, only if such waiver would enhance the public
safety, health, convenience or welfare.
A.
No utility shall install or construct, except by way of replacement
or upgrading of existing facilities, any poles and overheard wires
and associated overhead structures upon, along or across any public
way within the Town.
B.
Any utility replacing or upgrading existing poles, overhead wires
and associated overhead structures upon, along or across any public
way within the Town shall comply with the Select Board's rules and
regulations.
C.
Any utility or person who installs or constructs any poles, overhead
wires, or associated overhead structures in violation of this bylaw
shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than
$5,000.
D.
This bylaw shall not prohibit the installation of new streetlight
poles or traffic signal poles supplied by underground electricity.
E.
The Select Board may grant special permission, in cases of emergency
or unusual circumstances, to a utility or person to erect, construct,
install, maintain, use or operate poles and overhead wires and associated
structures, notwithstanding the provisions of this bylaw.
The provisions of this bylaw are severable from each other,
and if any of said provisions shall be held unconstitutional or invalid
by any court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall
remain in full force and effect; if any provision of this bylaw is
held by such court to be invalidly applied to any particular case,
all other applications of such provision to other cases shall not
be affected thereby.
[Adopted 4-2-2002 by
Art 34 as Art. XXX of the General Bylaws]
Utility poles shall consist of a single, straight, one-piece
device.
The owners of all utility poles shall remove all multiple poles
from their present location and transfer wires and attachments to
single replacement poles prior to September 1, 2002.
In the event of an emergency caused by weather conditions, accidents
or acts of God, temporary repairs may be made to damaged poles resulting
in a multiple pole, so long as the multiple pole is removed and replaced
by a single pole within a reasonable period of time not to exceed 60
days.
All future replacement utility pole installations shall be coordinated
between all occupants to provide for the transfer of all wires to
a new replacement pole so that all old poles or temporary devices
are removed within a reasonable period of time not to exceed 60 days.
Failure to comply with the provisions of this bylaw will result
in the imposition of a penalty or fine chargeable to the owners of
the pole in the amount of $50 per day for each day a violation exists.
