It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, company
or corporation to make or cause to be made any excavation in or under
any street, sidewalk or public place, or any portion thereof, whether
paved or otherwise, in the City of Oswego for any purpose whatsoever,
except upon compliance with the provisions of this Article and after
obtaining a permit and paying the fee hereinafter provided for.
Prior to the issuance of a permit, the applicant
shall deposit with the City Chamberlain a sum of money in cash or
by certified check sufficient to reimburse the city for all expenses
which may be incurred by the city in restoring the excavated surface
to a condition satisfactory to the Commissioner of Public Works in
the event that the applicant shall fail to so restore such surface.
Such deposit shall be computed as follows:
A. For concrete, macadam, brick, blacktop or other hard
surface road, sidewalk or public area, two dollars ($2.) per square
foot of excavation. Minimum deposit: one hundred dollars ($100.).
B. For gravel, dirt or other surface, one dollar ($1.)
per square foot of excavation. Minimum deposit fifty dollars ($50.).
C. In the event that part of the surface to be excavated is covered by Subsection
A and part by Subsection
B of this section, the deposit shall be based on the square footage of each type of surface, and the minimum deposit shall be one hundred dollars ($100.).
A fee of five dollars ($5.) shall accompany
each application for such a permit. Such fee shall be retained by
the city to cover the cost of issuing the permit and making any inspections
required.
Each permit shall expire six (6) months from
the date of its issuance.
No permit shall be issued until the applicant
has also filed with the Department of Public Works a satisfactory
surety bond of a surety company authorized to do business in the State
of New York in a sum to be no greater than the cost of restoring the
excavated area to a proper and safe condition, which sum and which
condition shall be determined by the Commissioner of Public Works
of the City of Oswego; provided, however, that such bond shall be
in the sum of at least five hundred dollars ($500.) and which bond
shall be conditioned upon compliance by the applicant with the terms
of this Article.
Upon compliance with the foregoing provisions
of this section, the Department of Public Works shall issue a permit
to the applicant. The applicant shall cause such permit to be carried
on the job and to be exhibited upon request to representatives of
the Department of Public Works and of the Police Department at any
time during the progress of the work.
The applicant shall comply with all of the following
in connection with such excavation:
A. Provide proper lighting, barricading, reflectors,
signs and warnings to protect and warn the public with regard to such
excavation.
B. Gutters shall be kept clear so that the free flow
of water is permitted.
C. All work shall be pursued diligently and continuously
as far as possible until completed.
D. Not more than one-half (1/2) of the paved width of
any street shall be closed to traffic at one (1) time.
E. In the event that the full width of any sidewalk shall
be closed during such work, the applicant shall provide a safe way
of travel for pedestrians.
F. The size of the excavation shall not exceed that for
which the permit was issued.
G. All work shall be subject to the inspection and approval
of the Department of Public Works.
H. After backfilling excavations which have been sheeted,
the sheeting shall be left in place and cut down one (1) foot below
grade.
I. No tunneling or undercutting is permitted.
J. Excavations shall be carefully backfilled with clean
earth deposited in four-inch layers and tamped. Frozen earth or stones
over six (6) inches in size shall not be used in backfill. Silt and
loam are to be replaced by bank-run gravel. The Department of Public
Works shall be notified, in writing, when backfilling is completed.
The applicant shall maintain the proper amount of backfill in the
excavation for a period of thirty (30) days after completion of the
original backfilling.
K. Pavement and other finished surfaces are to be replaced
according to instructions and specifications of the Department of
Public Works.
In the event that the applicant does not complete the work according to the instructions and specifications of the Department of Public Works and in a manner satisfactory to the Commissioner of Public Works within a reasonable time after being advised of such objections by the Department of Public Works, then, in that event, the work may be completed by the Department of Public Works and the cost of such completion shall be borne by the applicant at the rate provided in §
211-41 hereof, and such payment shall be deducted by the Department of Public Works from the amount deposited by the applicant, and the balance, if any, shall be refunded to the applicant.
Upon completion of the work to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Public Works, the Department of Public Works shall refund to the, applicant the deposit provided for in §
211-41 herein.
Any person or corporation violating any of the
provisions of this Article, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject
to a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100.) for each offense.
Every violation of any provision of this Article shall be a separate
and distinct offense, and, in case of continuing violation, every
day's continuance thereof shall be deemed to be a separate and distinct
offense. A violation of this Article shall constitute disorderly conduct,
and any person violating the same shall be a disorderly person.