The following definitions apply in this article.
References hereafter to "sections" are, unless otherwise specified,
references to sections in this article. Defined terms remain defined
terms whether or not capitalized.
APPLICANT
Any person requesting permission to excavate, obstruct and/or
occupy a right-of-way.
COMMITTEE
The Public Works Committee of the Village.
DEGRADATION
The decrease in the useful life of the paved portion of the
right-of-way, excluding the sidewalk right-of-way, caused by an excavation
of the right-of-way, resulting in the need to reconstruct such right-of-way
earlier than would be required if the excavation did not occur.
EMERGENCY
A condition that poses a clear and immediate danger to life
or health, or of a significant loss of property, or requires immediate
repair or replacement in order to restore service to a customer.
ENGINEER
The Village Engineer or his/her designee.
EXCAVATE
To dig into or in any way remove or physically disturb or
penetrate any part of a right-of-way.
FACILITIES
All equipment owned, operated, leased or subleased in connection
with the operation of a service or utility service and shall include
but is not limited to poles, wires, pipes, cables, underground conduits,
ducts, manholes, vaults, fiber optic cables, lines and other structures
and appurtenances.
IN
When used in conjunction with "right-of-way," means over,
above, within, on or under a right-of-way.
LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE
A local person or persons, or designee of such person or
persons, authorized by a registrant to accept service and to make
decisions for that registrant regarding all matters within the scope
of this article.
OBSTRUCT
To place any object in a right-of-way so as to hinder free
and open passage over that or any part of the right-of-way.
PERMITTEE
Any person to whom a permit to occupy, excavate or obstruct
a right-of-way has been granted by the Village under this article.
PERSON
A corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, limited
liability company, limited liability partnership and individuals and
their lessors, transferees and receivers.
REGISTRANT
Any person who has registered with the Village to have its
facilities located in any right-of-way.
REPAIR
To perform construction work necessary to make the right-of-way
usable for travel according to Committee specifications, or to restore
equipment to an operable condition.
RESTORE or RESTORATION
The process by which an excavated right-of-way and surrounding
area, including pavement and foundation, is reconstructed, per Committee
specifications.
RIGHT-OF-WAY
The surface and space above and below an improved or unimproved
public roadway, highway, street, bicycle lane and public sidewalk
in which the Village has an interest, including other dedicated rights-of-way
for travel purposes.
VILLAGE
The Village of Maple Bluff, Wisconsin, a Wisconsin municipal
corporation.
[Amended 7-12-2021]
The Director of Public Works, or his/her designee,
is responsible for the administration of the rights-of-way and permits
and ordinances related thereto. The Director of Public Works, or designee,
shall have the authority to issue permits and exercise authority for
emergency repairs and maintenance under this article when the excavation
or occupancy is either 1) undertaken by a Wisconsin public utility,
or 2) is for a duration of less than 90 days. All other permits under
this article shall be issued in accordance with § 66.0425
of the Wisconsin Statutes,
as amended from time to time.
The Village shall charge an annual registration
fee in an amount as set by the Village Board to recover the costs
incurred by the Village for processing and updating registration information.
It is in the best interests of all affected
parties to attempt to coordinate construction in the public right-of-way
whenever it is reasonably possible. Therefore, periodic reporting
by the registrant of known construction plans will be useful to achieve
this objective.
A. Every registrant shall, at the time of registration
and no later than January 1 of each year, file a construction and
major maintenance plan with the Village Administrator. The Village
Administrator shall make available at the time of registration, and
on January 15 of each year, the Committee's construction and major
maintenance plan. The registrant's plan and the Committee's plan shall
be submitted on a form prescribed by the Committee and shall contain
the information determined by the Committee to be necessary to facilitate
the coordination and reduction in the frequency of excavations of
rights-of-way. The plan shall include, but shall not be limited to,
the following information:
(1) The locations and the estimated beginning and ending
dates of all projects planned to be commenced during the next calendar
year; and
(2) The tentative locations and estimated beginning and
ending dates for all projects contemplated for the two years following
the next calendar year.
B. By February 15 of each year the Village Administrator
will have available for inspection in his/her office a composite list
of all projects of which the Village Administrator has been informed
in the annual plans. All registrants are responsible for keeping themselves
informed of the current status of this list.
C. Thereafter, by February 1, each registrant may change
any project in its list and must notify the Village Administrator
of all such changes in said list. The Village Administrator will make
all such changes available for inspection in his/her office. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, a registrant may at any time join in a project of another
registrant listed by the other registrant or undertake any maintenance
or construction project not listed in the registrant's plan.
The excavation permit fee shall be established
by the Village Board in an amount sufficient to recover the costs
incurred by the Village. This fee shall recover administrative and
inspection costs, as well as degradation costs should the permittee
choose to repair rather than restore the right-of-way. Payment of
said fees shall be collected prior to issuance of the permit. However,
the Director of Public Works may, with the advice and consent of the
Village Administrator, establish a fee collection process from governmental
agencies and private utilities in order to expedite the permitting
system and recognize that certain excavations are deemed emergencies.
A. Waiving of fees. Fees shall not be waived unless the
work involved is a direct result of the Director of Public Works'
demand that a plant owned by a utility be removed or relocated or
unless waived by the Public Works Committee on appeal.
B. Fee schedule.
(1) The minimum fee for each excavation permit shall be
set by the Village Board. Excavation permits for utility work in new
subdivisions and within the limits of public works projects, where
the work is undertaken prior to the installation of pavement, shall
only be charged the minimum fee. The fee for a permit issued after
commencing work, except in cases of emergency as determined by the
Village President, shall be double the fees set forth herein. This
permit fee shall be in addition to any forfeiture provided elsewhere
in this article.
(2) For those permit applications which provide for a
substantial undertaking of excavation within the public right-of-way
attended by disruption of the general public and traffic, the Village
President is authorized to assess the actual cost of the Village employees'
time engaged in the review and inspection of the anticipated work
multiplied by a factor determined by the Village President to represent
the Village's cost for statutory expense, benefits, insurance, sick
leave, holidays, vacation and similar benefits, overhead and supervision,
said factor not to exceed 2.0, plus the cost of mileage reimbursed
to Village employees which is attributed to the work, plus all consultant
fees associated with the work at the invoiced amount plus 10% for
administration.
C. Village exemption. The Village and its contractors
shall not pay degradation fees for excavations due to general government
functions.
D. Permit fees paid for a permit that the Committee has
revoked are not refundable.
The permittee shall be required to repair the
public right-of-way to Committee specifications, subject to inspection
and acceptance by the Committee, and to pay a degradation fee, as
per Subsection C, unless the permittee elects to restore the right-of-way
pursuant to Subsection D. In addition to repairing its own work, the
permittee must repair the general area of the work and the surrounding
areas, including the paving and its foundations, to the specifications
of the Committee. The Committee shall inspect the area of the work
and accept the work when it determines that proper repair has been
made, per specifications of the Committee.
A. Guarantees. The permittee guarantees its work and
shall maintain it for 36 months following its completion. During this
period it shall, upon notification from the Committee, correct all
work to the extent necessary, using the method required by the Committee.
Said work shall be completed within 10 calendar days of the receipt
of the notice from the Committee, not including days during which
work cannot be done because of circumstances constituting force majeure.
B. Failure to repair/restore. If the permittee fails
to repair/restore the right-of-way in the manner and to the condition
required by the Committee or fails to complete satisfactorily and
timely all work required by the Committee, the Committee at its option
may do such work. In that event the permittee shall pay to the Village,
within 30 days of billing, the cost of repairing/restoring the right-of-way.
C. Degradation. The general formula for computing the
degradation fee shall be the cost per square yard for street, overlay
and seal coat multiplied by the appropriate depreciation rate for
that street multiplied by the area of the patch. The area or the patch
shall be calculated by adding one foot to each side of the actual
street cut. The degradation fee schedule is provided in Figure 1 on
file at the office of the Clerk-Treasurer.
D. Restoration in lieu of repair and degradation. The permittee may elect to restore the excavation and surrounding pavement in lieu of repair and a degradation fee. The restoration shall be in accordance with the Standard Specifications for Public Works Construction and the plans and specifications of the Committee. The permittee shall then also comply with Subsections
A and
B.
The cost of trimming trees around facilities
is an ongoing cost to the Village. The specific cost will be determined
and a fee to offset those costs may be assessed in the future.
Obtaining a permit to excavate and/or occupy
the right-of-way does not relieve permittee of its duty to obtain
all other necessary permits, licenses, and authority and to pay all
fees required by any other Village, county, state, or federal rules,
laws or regulations. A permittee shall comply with all requirements
of local, state and federal laws. A permittee shall perform all work
in conformance with all applicable codes and established rules and
regulations and is responsible for all work done in the right-of-way
pursuant to its permit, regardless of who does the work.
A registrant must, promptly and at its own expense,
permanently remove and relocate its facilities in the right-of-way
whenever the Village, acting in its governmental capacity, requests
such removal and relocation. If requested, the registrant shall restore
the right-of-way. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a person shall not
be required to remove or relocate its facilities from any right-of-way
which has been vacated in favor of a nongovernmental entity unless
and until the reasonable costs thereof are first paid to the person
therefor.
The Village, by the granting of a permit to
excavate, obstruct and/or occupy the right-of-way or by registering
a person under this article, does not surrender or to any extent lose,
waive, impair, or lessen the lawful powers and rights which it has
now or which may be hereafter granted to the Village under the Constitution
and Statutes of the State of Wisconsin to regulate the use of the
right-of-way by the permittee, and the permittee by its acceptance
of a permit to excavate, obstruct and/or occupy the right-of-way or
of registration under this article:
A. Agrees that all lawful powers and rights, regulatory
powers, or police powers or otherwise as are or the same may be from
time to time vested in or reserved to the Village shall be in full
force and effect;
B. Shall be subject to the regulatory and police powers
of the Village to adopt and enforce general ordinances necessary to
the safety and welfare of the public; and
C. Is deemed to agree to comply with all applicable general
law and ordinances enacted by the Village pursuant to such powers.
Any person who violates this article or fails to comply with the provisions of this article shall be subject to a forfeiture as provided in Chapter
1, §
1-4. Each day such violation or failure to comply continues shall be considered a separate offense.