A. 
Required: No person shall make any excavation or fill any excavation in any public place without first obtaining a permit to do so from the administrative authority, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. No permit to make an excavation or fill an excavation in a public place shall be issued except as provided in this chapter.
B. 
Application:
1. 
Submission: No excavation permit shall be issued unless an application for the issuance of an excavation permit is submitted to the administrative authority.
2. 
Contents: The application shall state the name and address and principal place of business of the applicant, the authority of the applicant to occupy the public place for which the permit is sought, the location and dimensions of the installation or removal for which excavation is to be made, the purpose of the facility and the length of time which will be required to complete such work, including backfilling such excavation and removing all obstructions, material and debris.
C. 
Approved Application Constitutes Permit: The application, when approved and signed by the administrative authority, shall constitute a permit.
D. 
Annual Blanket Permit: The administrative authority may issue an annual blanket permit for the purpose of placing, replacing or repairing any facility within a public place to the following:
1. 
A public utility regulated by the public utilities commission of the state.
2. 
A person holding a franchise from the municipality.
(2003 Code)
The administrative authority shall have the authority to promulgate and cause to be enforced such rules and regulations as may be reasonably necessary to enforce and carry out the intent of this chapter.
(2003 Code)
The administrative authority shall make such inspections as are reasonably necessary in the enforcement of this chapter.
(2003 Code)
A. 
Required: It shall be the duty of every person, cutting or making an excavation in or upon any public place, to place and maintain such barriers and warning devices as may be necessary for safety.
B. 
Barriers: Barriers shall meet the requirements of the administrative authority.
C. 
Warning Lights: Warning lights shall be used from sunset of each day to sunrise of the following day and shall emit light of sufficient intensity and frequency to be visible at a reasonable distance for safety. Reflectors or reflecting material may be used to supplement, but not replace, light sources.
(2003 Code)
A permittee under this chapter shall maintain safe crossings for two lanes of vehicle traffic at all street intersections, where possible, and safe crossings for pedestrians. If any excavation is made across any public street, alley or sidewalk, at least one safe crossing shall be maintained, when possible, for vehicles and pedestrians. If the street is not wide enough to hold the excavated material without using part of the adjacent sidewalk, a passageway at least 1/2 the sidewalk width shall be maintained along such sidewalk line.
(2003 Code)
A permittee under this chapter shall take appropriate measures to assure that during the performance of the excavation work, traffic conditions as near normal as practicable shall be maintained at all times so as to cause as little inconvenience as possible to the occupants of the abutting property and to the general public; provided, that the administrative authority may permit the closing of streets and alleys to all traffic for a period of time prescribed by him or her if, in his or her opinion, it is necessary.
(2003 Code)
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the making of such excavations as may be necessary for the preservation of life or property or for the location of trouble in any conduit or pipe or for making repairs; provided, that the person making such excavation shall apply to the administrative authority for an excavation permit on the first working day after such work is commenced.
(2003 Code)
This chapter shall not be construed as imposing upon the town or any official or employee thereof any liability or responsibility for damages to any person injured by the performance of any excavation work for which an excavation permit is issued, nor shall the town or any official or employee thereof be deemed to have assumed any such liability or responsibility by reason of inspections authorized under this chapter, the issuance of any permit or the approval of any excavation work.
(2003 Code)
A. 
Prompt Completion of Work and Restoration Required: After an excavation is commenced, the permittee under this chapter shall prosecute with diligence and expedition all excavation work covered by the excavation permit and shall promptly complete such work and restore the street, sidewalk or alley to its original condition or as near as may be so as not to obstruct the public place or travel thereon more than is reasonably necessary.
B. 
Authority to Cause Work to Be Done Twenty-four Hours per Day: If, in his or her judgment, traffic conditions, the safety or convenience of the traveling public or the public interest require that the excavation work be performed as emergency work, the administrative authority shall have full power to order, at the time the permit for excavation work is granted, that a crew of workers and adequate facilities be employed by the permittee 24 hours a day to the end that such excavation work may be completed as soon as possible.
C. 
Inconvenience, Annoyance: Each permittee under this chapter shall conduct and carry out excavation work in such manner as to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and annoyance to the general public and occupants of neighboring property. The permittee shall take appropriate measures to reduce, to the fullest extent practicable, in the performance of the excavation work, noise, dust and unsightly debris, and, during the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., shall not use, except with written permission of the administrative authority or, in case of an emergency, as otherwise provided in this chapter, any tool, appliance or equipment producing noise of sufficient volume to disturb the sleep or repose of occupants of neighboring property.
D. 
Interference With Access to Fire Hydrants, Fire Escapes and Other Vital Equipment: All excavation work under this chapter shall be performed and conducted so as not to interfere with access to fire hydrants, fire stations, fire escapes, water gates, underground vaults, valve housing structures or any other vital equipment as designated by the administrative authority.
E. 
Relocation and Protection of Facilities:
1. 
Consent Required: A permittee under this chapter shall not interfere with any existing facility without the written consent of the administrative authority and the owner of the facility.
2. 
Relocation—Cost: If it becomes necessary to relocate an existing facility, this shall be done by its owner. No facility owned by the town shall be moved to accommodate the permittee unless the costs of such work is borne by the permittee. The cost of moving privately owned facilities shall be similarly borne by the permittee, unless he or she makes other arrangements with the person owning the facility.
3. 
Existing Pipes, Poles, Wires or Other Apparatus: The permittee shall support and protect all pipes, conduits, poles, wires or other apparatus which may be in any way affected by the excavation work and do everything necessary to support, sustain and protect them under, over, along or across such work. In case any of such pipes, conduits, poles, wires or apparatus should be damaged, they shall be repaired by the person owning them and the expense of such repairs shall be charged to the permittee, and his or her bond shall be liable therefor. The permittee shall be responsible for any damage done to any public or private property by reason of the breaking of any water, sewer, or gas pipe, electric conduit or other facility. The permittee shall inform him or herself as to the existence and location of all underground facilities and protect the same against damage.
F. 
Protection of Adjoining Property:
1. 
A permittee under this chapter shall, at all times and at his or her own expense, preserve and protect from injury any adjoining property by providing proper foundations and taking other measures suitable for that purpose. Where in the protection of such property it is necessary to enter upon private property for the purpose of taking appropriate protective measures, the permittee shall obtain license from the owner of such private property for such purpose and if he or she cannot obtain a license from such owner, the administrative authority may authorize him or her to enter the private premises solely for the purpose of making the property safe.
2. 
The permittee shall, at his or her own expense, shore up and protect all buildings, walls, fences or other property likely to be damaged during the progress of the excavation work and shall be responsible for all damage to public or private property or highways resulting from his or her failure to properly protect and carry out such work.
G. 
Care of Lawn Areas—Removal of Trees and Shrubs From Parking Strip Areas:
1. 
Lawn Areas: Whenever it may be necessary for a permittee under this chapter to trench through any lawn area, all construction and maintenance work shall be done in a manner calculated to leave the lawn area clean of earth and debris and in a condition as near as possible to that which existed before such work began.
2. 
Trees and Shrubs: The permittee shall not remove, even temporarily, any trees or shrubs which exist in parking strip areas without first obtaining the consent of the town council.
H. 
Breaking Through Pavement: The following provisions shall be applicable where any excavation requires breaking through pavement:
1. 
Heavy duty pavement breakers may be prohibited by the administrative authority when the use endangers existing substructures or other property.
2. 
Saw cutting of cement concrete may be required by the administrative authority when the nature of the job or the condition of the street warrants.
3. 
Approved cutting of bituminous pavement surface ahead of excavation may be required by the administrative authority to confine pavement damage to the limits of the trench.
4. 
Sections of sidewalks shall be removed to the nearest score line or saw cut edge.
5. 
Unstable pavement shall be removed over cave outs and overbreaks, and the subgrade shall be treated as the main trench.
6. 
Pavement edges shall be trimmed to a vertical face and neatly aligned with the centerline of the trench.
7. 
Cutouts outside of the trench lines must be normal or parallel to the trench line.
8. 
Boring or other methods to prevent cutting of new pavement may be required by the administrative authority.
9. 
A permittee under this chapter shall not be required to repair damage existing prior to excavation done by him or her unless his or her cut results in small floating sections that may be unstable, in which case the permittee shall remove and pave the area.
I. 
Disposition of Materials From Excavation: All material excavated from trenches and piled adjacent to the trench or in any street shall be piled and maintained in such a manner as not to endanger those working in the trench, pedestrians, or other users of the streets, and so that as little inconvenience as possible is caused to those using streets and adjoining property. Where the confines of the area being excavated are too narrow to permit the piling of excavated material beside the trench, the administrative authority shall have the power to require that the permittee under this chapter haul the excavated material to a storage site and then rehaul it to the trench site at the time of backfilling.
J. 
Removal of Debris: As excavation work progresses, all streets, sidewalks and alleys shall be thoroughly cleaned of all rubbish, excess earth, rock and other debris resulting from such work. All cleanup operations at the location of such excavation shall be accomplished at the expense of the permittee and shall be completed to the satisfaction of the administrative authority. Immediately after completion of such work, the permittee shall, at his or her own expense, clean up and remove all refuse and unused material of any kind resulting from such work.
K. 
Gutters: A permittee under this chapter shall maintain all gutters free and unobstructed for the full depth of the adjacent curb and for at least one foot (1′) in width from the face of such curb at the gutter line.
L. 
Disposal of Muck, Silt, Etc.: A permittee under this chapter shall make provisions to dispose of all surplus water, muck, silt, slickings or other runoff pumped from excavations or resulting from sluicing or other operations and shall be responsible for any damage resulting from its failure to so provide.
M. 
Backfilling: Fine material, free from lumps and stone, shall be thoroughly compacted around and under the substructure to the upper level of such substructure. Above the upper level of the substructure, backfill material shall be placed to the subgrade of the pavement in lifts consistent with the type of soil involved and the method of consolidation being used. Broken pavement, large stones, roots and other debris shall not be used in the backfill. Each lift shall be filled, jetted, rolled or tamped or a combination of these methods shall be used, depending upon the type of soil involved, to compact the backfill material. Such backfill shall be done in a manner that will permit the restoration of the surface to a condition equivalent to that in which it was prior to excavation.
N. 
Restoration of Surface:
1. 
Resurfacing of excavations shall be done with such materials and in such manner as to restore the surface to a condition at least as good as the surface prior to the commencement of the excavation.
2. 
Temporary surfacing may be required by the administrative authority where the backfill is likely to settle. The temporary surface shall be replaced with permanent resurfacing when the backfill has ceased to settle.
3. 
All surfaces and subsurfaces shall conform to the method of construction of the street, sidewalk or alley in which the excavation was made.
4. 
All restoration shall be done at the expense of permittee, and should permittee fail to restore the excavation after 10 days notice from town, the town shall have right to restore and charge permittee the full cost of such restoration.
(2003 Code)