[Adopted 9-19-1957 by Ord. No. 80]
[Amended 7-25-1995 by Ord. No. 1995-5; 11-23-1999 by Ord. No. 1999-7]
No cartway or gutter of any public street within this Borough, including but not limited to streets owned by the Borough and state highways under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, shall be cut into, drilled, excavated or tunneled, nor shall any pipe, conduit, vault or other facility or structure be installed in or under either the cartway, gutter, curb, sidewalks or sidewalk space of any such street, by any party other than a Borough employee or contractor (acting under authority of the Borough Council or its Highway or Sewer Committee), except under authorization of a permit therefor to be issued by the Borough Manager/Street Department Superintendent and except in strict accordance with such permit's terms; and no Borough employee or contractor shall perform any such excavation, tunneling or installation for or in connection with any property owner's private water or sewer service pipe except upon such owner's obtaining such permit in accordance with this article or upon direction from the Borough Council or its authorized officer stating that such work is in the Borough's (as contrasted with such owner's) interest, as for locating leaks or shutting off service for violation of Borough regulations or incident to a Borough street, sewer or water improvement, etc.
The property owner or utility company for whose benefit the work described in § 320-1 hereof is to be done shall be jointly and severally responsible (regardless of whether or not all owners have signed the application for the permit required hereunder) for:
A. 
Performing or procuring the performance of all work authorized or required by the permit, as well as filling and tamping tunnels and filling, tamping, temporarily repaving cartway and gutter with bituminous material immediately upon backfilling, cleaning up, and permanently repaving after adequate settlement of backfill, all excavations and drill holes so as to restore the street, gutter, curb or sidewalk to as good or better condition than before commencement of the work;
B. 
Maintaining all temporary and permanent repaving, and all tunnelling, against subsidence for a period of one year following completion of the work;
C. 
Safeguarding the work against accidents, with all barricades, persons or property, all in a prompt, careful and workmanlike manner in accordance with all Borough ordinances and regulations relating to water or sewer facilities, street paving, or otherwise, subject to Borough inspection and approval both of the work and of the time schedule therefor, and so as to not cause unreasonable inconvenience to residents of the Borough; and
D. 
Indemnifying and saving the Borough harmless from all loss or liability arising from or as a result of the work.
[Amended 10-7-1957 by Ord. No. 82; 6-7-1982 by Ord. No. 1982-25; 5-7-1984 by Ord. No. 1984-7; 2-23-1993 by Ord. No. 1993-2; 7-25-1995 by Ord. No. 1995-5; 11-23-1999 by Ord. No. 1999-7]
A permit under § 320-1 of this article shall be issued only upon compliance with, and work under it shall be subject to, the following requirements and conditions:
A. 
The property owner or utility company for whose benefit the work is to be done shall file with the Borough Secretary an application specifying the location, dimensions and purpose of the proposed street excavation, tunneling or drilling, the size and character of any new or replacement pipe, conduit or other structure to be installed underground, the time during which the work is planned or requested to be done, how much of the work (if any) is to be performed, respectively, by the Borough and/or by the applicant or the applicant's contractors, and the names and addresses of all contractors whom the applicant will have perform the work. The application shall also contain the applicant's assumption of responsibility for all unpaid costs as provided for in Subsection C hereof. Except in emergency situations, such application shall be submitted to the Borough not less than two workdays prior to the proposed date of excavation. When an excavation is performed to respond to an emergency situation, the property owner or the utility company shall file with the Borough Secretary an application meeting all requirements of this section and shall pay the application fee within two workdays after the excavation has been made.
B. 
The applicant shall pay to the Borough, at or before issuance of the permit, a fee to be established by resolution from time to time by the Borough Council as a permit fee and as a deposit or credit on account of costs of work or of inspection provided for in Subsection C below. At the same time, the applicant shall pay the Borough any unpaid amounts or damages then due and collectible by it on, or arising from work done under, any former street opening permit; and where the street is being opened for sewer installation, the applicant shall also pay or produce evidence of prior payment of any sewer assessments or frontage connection charges.
C. 
The applicant shall be liable to the Borough for the aforementioned permit fee, plus the cost to the Borough of any inspection which it determines to be necessary in view of the extent and duration of the work, plus the cost of all work under the permit and required by § 320-2 hereof, which the Borough may determine (at any time) to undertake or procure, either pursuant to its decision that the public interest requires such work to be done under Borough auspices or pursuant to request of the applicant. The foregoing costs shall be computed and billed by the Borough Secretary, and unpaid balances thereof shall be due and payable to the Borough within 30 days after the same are billed and shall bear interest and be subject to the filing of a municipal lien after 60 days following the date of billing. If the deposit for Borough work and inspection under Subsection B of this section should be in excess of actual costs of such inspection and work, the Borough shall refund the excess to applicant, accompanied by an itemized statement. Neither the rendering nor the payment of any bill for initial work or stages thereof, nor any prior refund by the Borough, shall relieve the applicant from liability for any paving, repaving, filling or subsidence or other subsequent work, or subsequent inspections, found by the Borough to be necessary within one year following completion of the initial work.
D. 
To the extent, if any, that the Borough may undertake, in said permit, to perform or procure the performance of work, other than inspection, under Subsection C, the applicant shall be relieved of the obligations imposed by § 320-2 hereof.
E. 
When any of the work is proposed to be done by a party other than the Borough or its contractors, the application required under § 320-1 shall also include or be accompanied by:
(1) 
A written undertaking by the applicant (or, subject to the Borough's approval, by the applicant's contractor) assuming all obligations imposed by § 320-2 hereof; agreeing to excavate only so much at a time, and to deposit excavated material at such locations as the Borough may reasonably require in the interests of public safety and convenience and maintenance of traffic; agreeing to do any bridging of trenches necessary to permit maintenance of vehicular or pedestrian traffic and to ensure abutting owners uninterrupted access between their properties and the street; agreeing that, in case of default in any of the foregoing obligations, the Borough may do or procure the doing of all necessary acts to cure the default and may collect the cost from the applicant or his contractor; and authorizing confession of judgment against the applicant or the contractor for the amount of such cost, as certified by the Borough Secretary.
(2) 
A certificate evidencing that the applicant or his contractor is carrying public liability insurance applicable to the work, and for the duration thereof, with an insurer satisfactory to the Borough, for at least $500,000 for personal injury and death and for property damage.
(3) 
In projects involving excavation or drilling of more than 12 square yards of street surface, a bond, with corporate or individual sureties satisfactory to the Borough, guaranteeing performance by the applicant or his contractor of the obligations specified in § 320-2 hereof, in an amount equal to the estimated cost of the Borough's performing the work in case of default, as fixed by the Borough Secretary.
(4) 
Identification of the date or dates upon which the applicant or his contractor proposes to conduct the work. If the applicant or his contractor does not know the date of the work at the time of making application for the permit, the applicant or his contractor shall provide the Borough with at least one week's notice of the proposed date of the work. The Borough shall approve the date or dates of the work in order to eliminate traffic congestion which could result from multiple excavations or excavations when activities are scheduled within the Borough.
(5) 
Evidence that the contractor has workers' compensation insurance or that such contractor is not required to maintain workers' compensation insurance.
(6) 
Where the street opening permit is required for public sewer purposes, the application shall be countersigned by the Sewer Department Superintendent or someone authorized by the Sewer Department Superintendent before the Borough shall issue the permit. Where the street opening permit is for a utility other than public sewer, the applicant shall present evidence that the utility has consented to the work.
F. 
Permits with respect to state highways shall be subject to any additional requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
G. 
Permits for installation of telephone, electric, gas or any other non-Borough-owned main pipes or conduits (as distinguished from individual service connections) or for any vault, manhole or other underground structure shall be issued only after approval by the Highway Committee of the Council with respect to the proposed location, time of work, structural strength, provisions for safety and maintenance of traffic, and any other factors involving public convenience or safety.
H. 
The Borough Council reserves the right, in its discretion, to waive, or to waive subject to conditions, any or all of the requirements of Subsection E of this section relating to furnishing of confession of judgment, public liability insurance and performance bond in cases of street-opening permit applications for work to be performed by public utility corporations by their own employees (but not by their contractors), upon submission by such corporations of condensed financial statements and/or certificates of self-insurance which the Council shall consider to establish that such waivers may be granted without prejudice to the interests of the Borough and its taxpayers, and if such corporations shall have theretofore faithfully complied with all requirements of Borough ordinances.
I. 
Any person performing any excavation, tunneling, drilling or other work within a public street within the Borough shall comply with all requirements of Chapter 203, Work Zone Traffic Control, of the regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Within 60 days after completion of installation of any pipe, conduit or other underground structure under any Borough street or sidewalk by any party other than a Borough employee or contractor (acting under Borough authority), the applicant for the permit authorizing such work shall file or procure the filing showing the exact size, location and depth of the underground facilities or structures, with tie-in measurements to enduring surface monuments, accompanied by a certificate by the applicant or his contractor that the installation, as actually made, was in conformity with the location and any other specifications prescribed by the permit.
[Amended 9-9-1963 by Ord. No. 1963-15; 6-7-1982 by Ord. No. 1982-25; 5-7-1984 by Ord. No. 1984-7; 7-25-1995 by Ord. No. 1995-5; 10-26-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-02]
Any person who violates or permits the violation of any provision of this article shall be liable, upon summary conviction therefor, to fines and penalties of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 plus all costs of prosecution, including attorneys' fees, which costs, fines, and penalties may be collected as provided by law. Each day that a violation continues and each section of this article which is violated constitutes a separate violation.