The written permits required by this chapter shall be issued by the City Engineer for any lawful use, subject to conditions set forth in this chapter and required by law. The City Engineer shall prescribe and provide a regular form of application for a permit required by this chapter. The application form shall contain space for the applicant’s name and address and the contractor’s name, license number, and primary place of business, if the applicant proposes to employ a contractor, together with the detail that in the judgment of the City Engineer is necessary to establish the purpose and use, location, dimension, and estimated dates of commencement and completion of the encroachment. The application form shall be completed and signed by the applicant and filed with the City Engineer.
The applicant shall enclose with, attach or add to the application for a permit, a map, plat, sketch, diagram, or similar exhibit, when required by the City Engineer, of a size and in the quantity that he/she may prescribe, on which shall be plainly shown all information necessary to locate, delineate, illustrate, or identify the proposed use or encroachment and the right and necessity of the applicant to cause such encroachment. If necessary, changes, corrections, and notes will be made on the map, plat, sketch, diagram, or similar exhibit and these items will become an integral part of the permit.
The applicant shall also enclose with, attach to, or add to the application copies of the written order or consent to any work under the permit, required by law, of the Public Utilities Commission, sanitary districts, water districts, or any other public body having jurisdiction. A permit shall not be issued until the order or consent, if required, is first obtained and evidence of it filed with the City Engineer. The permittee shall keep him/her adequately informed of all State and Federal laws and local ordinances and regulations which affect the permit. The applicant at all times shall comply with and shall cause all his/her agents and employees to comply with all such laws, ordinances, regulations, decisions, and court and similar authoritative orders, and shall protect and indemnify the City and all of its officers, agents, and employees against any claims or liability proximately caused by the violations of such law, ordinance, regulation, or order issued under police power and in accordance with law, whether by himself or his/her agents or employees.
Before a vehicle or combination of vehicles or objects of weight, dimension, or characteristic prohibited by law without a permit, is moved on a public right-of-way, a permit shall first be granted by the City Engineer as set forth in specifications adopted by resolution of the City Council.
The permittee shall begin the work or use authorized by a permit issued under this chapter within 90 days from date of issuance, unless a different period is stated in the permit. If the work or use is not begun within 90 days, or within the time stated in the permit, then the permit shall become void, unless before its expiration the time for beginning has been extended in writing by the City Engineer. A permit for temporary encroachments, as determined by the City Engineer, for continuing a use or maintaining a temporary encroachment previously authorized, shall be valid for a term of one year from date of issuance, unless the permit specifies otherwise, or unless sooner terminated by discontinuance of the use, removal of the encroachment, or termination of the permit by written order of the City Engineer mailed 30 days before the date of termination.
The permittee shall complete the work or use authorized by a permit within the time specified in the permit. If at any time the City Engineer finds that delay in beginning, prosecuting, or completing the work or use is due to lack of diligence by the permittee, the City Engineer may cancel the permit and restore the right-of-way to its former condition or a safe condition, whichever is less expensive, or complete the work authorized by the permit. The permittee shall reimburse the City for all expenses incurred by the City Engineer in restoring the right-of-way, or completing the work, plus 15% as administrative costs.
If the City Engineer determines that the performance of the work described in a permit is unsatisfactory or unacceptable, or both, then the permittee shall reconstruct the work to the satisfaction of the City Engineer. If the City Engineer determines that delay in pursuit or completion of the act or work is due to lack of diligence or to a willful act on the part of the permittee, or that the work is unsatisfactory, unacceptable, or both, if essential to the health, safety or welfare of the public, the City Engineer may request the City Council for authorization to contract with any licensed general contractor to complete, erect, install, reconstruct, or alter all structures or work in conformance with the permit, or to remove all structures and obliterate all work not completed. The costs incurred thereby shall be repaid to the City from the cash or surety bond deposited by the permittee with the City for the performance of the work; provided that any and all costs incurred by the City which exceed the cash deposit or surety bond’s penalty sum shall be paid by the permittee to the City.
No permit issued under this chapter is transferable. The person, public agency, firm, or corporation actually making or maintaining the encroachment shall obtain the permit and furnish the bond.
The permittee shall keep any permit issued under this chapter at the site of work, or in the cab of a vehicle when its movement on a public highway is involved, and the permit must be shown to any authorized representative of the City Engineer or law enforcement officer on demand. A permit issued for continuing use or maintenance of an encroachment may be kept at the place of business of the permittee or otherwise safeguarded during the term of validity but shall be made available to an authorized representative of the City Engineer or law enforcement officer within a reasonable time after demand.
No changes shall be made in the location, dimensions, character, or duration of the encroachment or use granted by the permit except on written authorization by the City Engineer, but no permit shall be required for the continuing use or maintenance of encroachments installed by public utilities or for changes to them where the changes or additions require no excavation of the right-of-way.
The schedule of fees will be those recommended by the City Engineer and established and adopted by the City Council from time to time by resolution. Before a permit is issued the applicant shall deposit with the City Engineer for payment to the treasurer of the City cash or check in a sufficient sum to cover the fee for issuance of the permit, charges for field investigation, and the fee for necessary inspection, all in accordance with schedules established and adopted by the City Council. Public utilities and political subdivisions, at the City Engineer’s option, may make payment for the above changes as billed by the City instead of advance deposit as required above.