[Adopted 6-14-1993[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also superseded former Art. IV, Driveways and Curbs, adopted as Secs. 24-28 through 24-44 of the 1963 Code.
For the purposes of this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
DRIVEWAY APPROACH
That portion of any and every means of ingress or egress which is within, on, through or abutting any public right-of-way to or from any public roadway, whether improved or in its natural state.
No person shall construct in any street in the town any driveway approach or any curb, sidewalk or combined curb and gutter without first obtaining a permit to do so from the Town Engineer, nor shall any construction work thereon be done until such permit has been issued to the applicant. Such permit shall be good only for construction work which conforms to the lines and grades, if any, established and given by the Town Engineer, and any deviation from such line and grade shall be deemed construction without a permit. A permit shall be required for each separate piece of property.
A license to perform such construction work shall be issued by the Director of Public Works or his agent to any person who shall make proper application therefor and satisfy the Director of Public Works or his agent that he is competent and intends to perform his work in accordance with all applicable conditions, rules, regulations and specifications herein contained or herein adopted. A fee as set out in § 62-1 of the Stratford Town Code will be charged for each license issued.
A. 
Before such license is granted, every applicant shall file with the Director of Public Works or his agent a certificate of liability insurance in an amount of not less than $500,000.
B. 
Before such license is granted, every applicant shall enter into an agreement with the town conditioned substantially as follows: that the applicant shall indemnify and save harmless the Director of Public Works and the town and its officers, servants, agents and employees, from all claims, suits, liability and actions for and on account of any injuries or damages received or sustained by any person or corporation in consequence, in connection with any opening, excavation or other work performed on any such public right-of-way or from any negligence or omission in guarding the work or maintaining such work and its immediate area in a safe condition or from any act or omission of the applicant, his servants or agents or as a result of lines or grades that may be then or thereafter given.
All licenses will expire on the first day of April next following the date of issue, unless sooner revoked, and a new application must be made in all respects like the first and a new license obtained before any work can be performed thereafter by the licensee.
A. 
Application for permits required under § 186-35 of this article shall be submitted in writing by a contractor licensed under this article or governmental agency or public service company or its authorized agent on forms provided for such purpose in the office of the Town Engineer. Such application shall specify the ownership and location of the affected property where the work is to be done and the nature and dimensions of such work, which shall conform to the provisions of §§ 186-45 through 186-48 of this article. No work shall commence or be continued unless the permit is posted by the permittee or his agent at the location of the work.
B. 
A fee as set out in § 62-1 of the Stratford Town Code will be charged for each permit.
C. 
Before such any permit shall be granted, each applicant shall file with the Director of Public Works or his agent an endorsement to such liability insurance policy as is required under § 186-37 of this article naming the town as an insured to the full extent of coverage thereunder.
D. 
The Director of Public Works or his agent may waive the provisions of Subsection C of this section only where such work is undertaken in conjunction with work on roadways authorized under the provision of Article III and such work is secured by bond previously filed pursuant to § 186-23B of Article III of this chapter.
E. 
The provisions of Subsections C and D of this section shall not apply to work to be performed by the employees of any governmental agency or any public service company.
All permits required by § 186-35 of this article must be kept at the site of the work during its accomplishment and must be exhibited to all authorized persons on request.
The provisions of this article shall not prevent the making, without permit as required by § 186-35 of this article, of repairs to any existing curbs, sidewalks, combined curbs and gutters or driveway approaches, provided that the requirements of §§ 186-45 through 186-48 are compiled with.
A. 
Application for permit for reconstruction of an existing driveway approach only shall be accompanied by a written statement signed by the owner or owners stating that such driveway approach will be removed, replaced or regraded to meet such line and grade of any sidewalk, curb or road construction as may be established in the future, without cost, claim or suit therefor against the town.
B. 
No permit shall be required for a driveway approach made solely by grading the natural surface, but such driveway approach shall conform to the requirements of §§ 186-45 through 186-48 of this article.
All work performed under this article shall be subject to the supervision and inspection of the Director of Public works and the Town Engineer or their agents who shall have full power to halt all work being done in violation thereof and to require all work to be completed in conformance therewith. In the event of failure, neglect or refusal to conform to such requirements, the Director of Public Works and the Town Engineer or their agents shall have the power to revoke any permit and to complete the work at the expense of the party responsible therefor. Such failure, neglect or refusal shall automatically effect default upon the condition of any surety bond given under § 186-39 of this article or any surety bond securing such work given under § 186-23B of Article III of this chapter. Such supervision and inspection, however, shall not relieve the party responsible therefor from any obligation to perform the work strictly in accordance with the provisions of this article and with such rules, regulations and specifications as may be adopted hereunder or from full responsibility for the proper performance and quality of such construction.
The Director of Public Works and the Town Engineer may jointly adopt, from time to time, such rules, regulations and specifications, within the limits of this article, for the conduct of the work to be performed under such permits as they may deem necessary to effectuate the provisions of this chapter. Such specifications may incorporate current approved standards and practices as the same may now exist or hereafter develop regarding dimensions and quality of curbs, sidewalks, combined curbs and gutters, stating the proportions and quality of materials to be used in various types of construction.
[Added 11-24-1997 by Ord. No. 97-32; amended 4-11-2011 by Ord. No. 10-24]
A. 
Any person, contractor or utility that makes a street opening or multiple street openings greater than 200 longitudinal feet in aggregate or makes cuts for numerous lateral connections on a given street and as a result the useful life of any street is significantly shortened, as determined by the Director of Public Works, shall comply with the following:
(1) 
A full-time construction inspector may be required for the term of the construction. This person shall be selected by the Town and shall report to the Town, but this person's salary, wages and benefits shall be paid for by the person, contractor or utility. The Director of Public Works or his designee may waive this requirement on street openings if, in the Town's opinion, such waiver will not diminish the quality of the repair.
(2) 
Materials and compaction testing of backfill materials may be required by the Town when depth of opening, materials or other conditions warrant. Costs shall be borne by the person, contractor or utility.
(3) 
Temporary patching of said street opening shall be of hot-mix bituminous asphalt whenever possible. Deviations from this requirement must be approved by the Town.
(4) 
Final patching shall consist of saw cutting the original opening a minimum of six inches beyond the original cut, tack coating all exposed vertical surfaces, patching the opening with hot-mix bituminous asphalt to a minimum depth of three inches or the depth of adjacent existing asphalt, whichever is greater, and crack sealing the patch with an asphalt emulsion crack sealer approved by the Town.
(5) 
For roads opened where the road has been surfaced or resurfaced within 10 years of the time of the street opening, the pavement shall be saw cut back two feet from the outside edge of the trench cut parallel to the curb, the pavement shall be milled 1 1/2 inches deep to the nearest curb, and then resurfaced with a bituminous concrete wearing surface as approved by the Town Engineer.
(6) 
For roads opened where the road has been surfaced or resurfaced within 11 to 15 years of the time of the street opening, the pavement shall be saw cut back 18 inches from each edge of the trench cut parallel to the curb, the pavement and sub-base shall be removed, 10 inches of compacted processed aggregate subbase shall be placed to within four inches of the existing surrounded surface and then four inches of pavement shall be installed in two lifts of two inches each with bituminous concrete as approved by the Town Engineer.
(7) 
For roads opened where the road has been surfaced or resurfaced 16 or more years from the time of the street opening, the pavement shall be saw cut back 12 inches from each edge of the trench cut, parallel to the curb, the pavement and subbase shall be removed, 10 inches of processed aggregate subbase shall be placed to within four inches of the existing surrounded surface and then four inches of pavement shall be installed in two lifts of two inches each with bituminous concrete as approved by the Town Engineer.
(8) 
Full curb-to-curb overlay shall be required for the entire longitudinal dimension of the street opening to a compacted depth of 1 1/2 inches with a Class 1 or Class 2 hot-mix bituminous asphalt, as specified by the Town.
(9) 
Highway line striping on all roads requiring same shall be restored at the expense of the person, contractor or utility.
(10) 
Cost adjustments and other expenses that are related to these guidelines will be the responsibility of the person, contractor or utility.
(11) 
A guarantee of up to five years on compaction and pavement serviceability may be required when conditions warrant.
B. 
Appeal process. Should the person, contractor or utility determine that the restoration requirements of this section are unduly burdensome, it must notify the Director of Public Works within 30 days of the application for permit. The Director shall convene a committee made up of the Director of Public Works, Town Engineer and the Superintendent of Highways to review the complaint. This committee shall respond to the grievant within 15 working days, in writing. The decision of this committee will be final.
C. 
In the event that any provision of this section or any part of any provision conflicts with any applicable law, such conflict shall not affect other provisions of this section which can be given effect without the conflicting provision, it being the intention of the Stratford Town Council that any such conflicting provision or part thereof be deemed severable.
D. 
The Director of Public Works may approve payment to the Town in lieu of permanent pavement restoration on a case-by-case basis.
E. 
In the event of any violations of any provision of this section, the Town has the right to make repairs and bill the person, contractor or utility who performed the work referenced in Subsection A hereof for actual costs.
F. 
No person, contractor or utility who fails to comply with this section shall be issued a permit to open any street or make cuts therein until it has fully corrected such non-compliance.
A. 
After obtaining a permit and before commencing operations in the public rights-of-way, a grade line shall be obtained from the office of the Town Engineer.
B. 
No driveway approach shall extend into the street further than the curbline nor extend over or cover a sidewalk nor be authorized within any regularly constituted crosswalk nor be closer than 20 feet to a driveway on the same property.
C. 
No private driveway approach shall be constructed of width in excess of 24 feet at the taking line nor shall it extend beyond the extension of the side property line of an abutting property.
D. 
No public, commercial or industrial driveway shall be constructed in excess of 30 feet at the taking line, without approval of the Chief of Police and the Director of Public Works or his agent.
E. 
No public, commercial or industrial driveway shall be closer than five feet from a side property line nor shall the flares of the approach extend beyond the extension of the side property line or an abutting property.
F. 
If the physical condition of any property is such that, in the opinion the Chief of Police, ingress or egress are likely to be made at points other than by the designated driveway approaches, then a curb shall be required, without cost to or claim against the town therefor, which shall be parallel with the street or property lines and two feet inside the sidewalk or, if there be no sidewalk, at such other point as the Town Engineer may designate. Such curb shall extend across such portion of the frontage of the property as will effectively prevent, to the satisfaction of the Chief of Police, any ingress or egress to the property at any points other than by the designated driveway approaches. If parking space is provided or parking allowed between the sidewalk and the traveled portion of the road, a curbing shall be required, without cost or claim against the town therefor, two feet outside the sidewalk, where, in the opinion of the Chief of Police, such would be necessary to prevent vehicles from driving upon the sidewalk and to prevent the ends of vehicles from extending over the sidewalk. However, if the sidewalk is seven feet or more in width, the curbing provided for in this section may be placed immediately against the sidewalk.
G. 
All driveway approaches for public, commercial or industrial premises shall have raised curbs on both sides extending from the roadway to the sidewalk or, if there is no sidewalk, to such point as the Town Engineer shall then or later designate. Such raised curbs shall be so placed that the requirements of this section will not be violated by the vehicular traffic driving over or across land outside the limits of the driveway proper.
H. 
Any person desiring a waiver of any of the requirements of Subsection G of this section shall submit to the Chief of Police a written application accompanied by a definite plan showing the location and ownership of the property, existing walks, curbs, drives and roadways, the length and location of the proposed or existing driveway approach or approaches, existing and proposed grades that effect the proposal, type of proposed construction, the purpose for which such property is to be used and such other data as may be necessary to present clearly the problem or that the Chief of Police may require. The Chief of Police shall submit such plan, accompanied by his own recommendations, to the Town Planning and Zoning Commission through the Mayor. The Town Planning and Zoning Commission shall consider the same and shall, within 90 days from the meeting at which first presented, grant or deny the application for such waiver.
[Amended 3-12-2007 by Ord. No. 07-03]
I. 
All curbs shall be constructed of concrete, machine-laid asphalt or granite in accordance with the specifications of the Town Engineer and as on file in his office. Location and elevation shall be obtained from the office of the Town Engineer.
J. 
All sidewalks shall be constructed of concrete in accordance with the specifications of the Town Engineer and as on file in his office. Minimum depth shall be four inches. All sidewalks shall be constructed in accordance with the requirements and the aforementioned specifications of the Town Engineer, with respect to location, elevation and materials.
K. 
All phases of the work involved in the construction or repair of sidewalks, curbing and driveway approaches shall be subject to the inspection and supervision of the Director of Public Works and the Town Engineer or their agents.
A. 
All curb corners at street intersections shall be maintained as safety zones for pedestrians. A curb corner shall constitute an area as follows:
(1) 
The area lying between the street lines extended, where the angle between such extended street lines is 90° or greater.
(2) 
The area lying between lines drawn at right angles to the street lines at the point of intersection of such street lines, where the angle between the street lines extended is less than 90°.
B. 
There shall be no lowering of the curb nor shall any driveway approach encroach with the bounds of any curb corner, except where handicap ramps are required.
Except in accordance with the provisions of this article, no person shall maintain, grade, construct, surface or in any other manner change his property or the curbs, roadways, roadway shoulders or planting strip or permit any condition to exist so as to create a condition encouraging the passage by vehicular traffic from the traveled roadway across any curb, planting strip or the area reserved from them.
A. 
As sidewalks, curbs and driveway approaches are constructed or reconstructed, the provision of this article shall apply, and existing conditions inconsistent with the requirements hereof shall be corrected to comply herewith.
B. 
Such of those regulations as are not inconsistent with the requirements of the Connecticut Department of Transportation shall apply within the limits of highways under state jurisdiction. State approval, limitations and decisions shall be obtained and exhibited to the proper town officials before the town shall approve or issue permits under this article for construction along state-controlled roads.
Neither this article nor any of its terms or provisions concerning licenses or permits shall apply to the town or to any of its officers, boards, agencies or departments.