[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Closter 9-24-2008 by Ord. No. 2008:1018. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Driveways — See Ch. 92.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 147.
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 171.
A. 
No person shall construct or cut, break or remove any sidewalk, curbing or street signage or cause to have cut, broken or removed any sidewalk or curbing in the Borough without first obtaining a permit to do such work from the office of the Construction Code Official.
B. 
The permit fees shall be determined by the Borough Engineer or the Construction Code Official.
(1) 
The cash bond/escrow amounts shall be waived by the Construction Official if the work to be performed is being undertaken by the owner/occupant of the premises.
(2) 
In the case of complexes which contain several buildings with several street addresses, only one permit fee shall be charged.
C. 
All work shall be done under the supervision of the Borough Engineer and/or the Construction Code Official and in accordance with Borough specifications in effect at the time of such work. Forms shall be inspected by the Borough before any concrete is poured. All debris and surface material shall be promptly removed upon completion of the work. All signs shall be reinstalled at the original or approved alternate locations.
D. 
In the case that the proposed construction is on a street where concrete curbs and sidewalks do not exist, it shall be the responsibility of the applicant to submit a plan depicting line and grade of the new curb and/or sidewalk for review. The applicant may choose to have the Borough Engineer establish line and grade, in which event the applicant shall post an appropriate escrow in accordance with the Borough Engineer's determination.
E. 
The applicant shall maintain the premises in a safe manner and shall provide adequate barricades and lights at his own expense to protect the safety of the public use in the adjacent streets or sidewalks and shall indemnify the Borough and hold it harmless from and against any claim, liability, damage or expense, including attorney fees arising out of his operations.
A. 
Curbs shall be of Belgian block or concrete.
B. 
Existing Belgian block curbs shall be retained or removed and reused if possible, and no Belgian block curb shall be cut or destroyed without prior approval of the Borough Engineer and/or the Construction Code Official, who shall authorize such cutting or destruction only if he determines that reuse of such curb is not possible.
C. 
Belgian block curbing which cannot feasibly be reused at the location from which it is removed but which can feasibly be reused elsewhere in the Borough shall be delivered by the person removing the same to such location within the Borough as shall be designated by the Borough Engineer and/or the Construction Code Official, to be stored there under the supervision of the Director of Public Works for subsequent sale or for the purpose of having the same installed at some other location on a public street within the Borough.
D. 
Concrete curbs shall have a minimum twenty-eight-day strength of 4,000 pounds per square inch with air entrainment of 4% to 6%.
E. 
The dimensions of newly installed curbs (except for usable or reusable granite curbs) shall be as follows:
(1) 
The depth shall be at least 20 inches.
(2) 
The width shall be nine inches at the bottom and six inches at the top.
(3) 
The length of each section shall be 10 feet with the expansion joints at intervals of not more than 10 feet.
(4) 
At driveways, curbs shall be depressed 4 1/2 inches, resulting in a drop in the curb of 1 1/2 inches.
F. 
Curb elevations on newly constructed streets (and on existing streets, where feasible) shall extend six inches above the adjacent roadway pavement, provided that where, because of special drainage conditions or other topographic conditions, such dimensions are not feasible or undesirable, or where the condition of an existing street renders such dimensions not feasible or undesirable, or where the paved roadway exceeds 30 feet, the Borough Engineer may authorize variations from the above-described design in accordance with New Jersey Department of Transportation requirements.
A. 
Except as provided in Subsection B hereof, pavement within the sidewalk area shall conform to the following specifications:
(1) 
All concrete sidewalks shall have a minimum twenty-eight-day strength of 4,000 pounds per square inch with air entrainment of 4% to 6%; shall be at least six inches thick in areas crossed by vehicles and at least four inches thick in other areas; shall include a subgrade of compacted dense-graded aggregate not less than four inches thick; and shall be a least four feet wide.
(2) 
Sidewalks shall have an extension joint installed at intervals of not more than 10 feet, with an alternating dummy groove joint at intervals of not more than five feet.
(3) 
Driveway aprons must be four-thousand-pound concrete, six inches thick, with six by six WWM, and the subbase should be a minimum four-inch crushed stone base not exceeding 3/4 inch in diameter; the apron shall be separated from the curb cut with expansion joints.
B. 
The Planning Board or Board of Adjustment, in connection with its review of a site plan application, or the Borough Engineer and/or Construction Code Official, in a matter which does not require site plan review, may grant exceptions to the requirements of this section in the event that compliance therewith is not possible or if such compliance would be excessively costly or burdensome and if the noncompliance will have no adverse effect on the condition of the sidewalk involved or the adjacent street and will not be inconsistent with the overall intent and purpose of this section. However, in that case of new construction of an improvement upon vacant land which does not require site plan approval, the waiver procedures detailed § 171-29A(2) supercede this provision.
C. 
The owner or occupant of premises abutting any blue stone or concrete sidewalk shall maintain such sidewalk at all times in good and passable condition at a grade which will prevent water accumulating thereon and shall replace any flagstones which become broken and shall maintain the flagstones so that the joints thereof are even. The surface of all concrete sidewalks shall be kept properly roughened so as not to become smooth and slippery.
D. 
During the time that any such sidewalk shall be removed, provisions shall be made by the permittee for safe and convenient means of passage by pedestrians.
A. 
In case any sidewalk becomes out of repair, the owner or occupant of the lands abutting such sidewalk shall forthwith, upon receipt of written notice from the Construction Code Official, repair or cause the same to be repaired and made in a good and passable condition.
(1) 
Notice to repair. Whenever it shall appear, upon written report of the Building Subcode Official, that any curb or sidewalk on any street or road of the Borough is dilapidated or in need of repair or reconstruction, the Construction Code Official may cause a notice, in writing, to be served upon the owner or occupant of the lands abutting the curb or sidewalk requiring the necessary specified work to the curb or sidewalk to be done by the owner or occupant within a period of not less than 30 days from the date of service of such notice. All repairs should be done to the satisfaction of the Construction Code Official.
(2) 
Service of notice whenever any abutting lands are unoccupied and the owner cannot be found within the Borough. In such case, the aforesaid notice may be mailed, postage prepaid. In case such owner is a nonresident of the Borough or his or her post office address cannot be ascertained, then the notice may be inserted, once a week for two consecutive weeks, in one of the official newspapers designated by the Borough.
(3) 
Failure to comply with notice. In case the owner or occupant of such abutting lands shall not comply with the requirements of such notice, it shall be lawful for the Construction Code Official, upon filing due proof of the service or publication of the aforesaid notice in the office of the Borough Clerk, to cause the required work to be done and paid for out of the municipal funds available for that purpose. The cost of such work shall be certified by the Construction Code Official to the Tax Collector. Upon the filing of the certificate, the amount of the cost of such work shall be and become a lien upon the abutting lands in front of which the work was done to the same extent that assessments for local improvements are liens and shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of other assessments and shall bear interest at the same rate.
B. 
No person shall place any bridging over any gutter or any pipe or other obstruction in any gutter without first having secured the consent of the Mayor and Council.
C. 
No person shall place or permit to be placed upon any sidewalk or sidewalk area any object or thing that shall in any manner encumber or obstruct such sidewalk or sidewalk area or render travel upon such sidewalk or sidewalk area dangerous or unsafe. No steps, walls, fences, driveway curbs or similar features shall extend into the sidewalk area, nor shall hedges or shrubbery be permitted to project into a sidewalk area so as to obstruct pedestrian traffic.
D. 
No person shall lower a concrete curb for the purpose of providing a driveway across a sidewalk without a permit. The concrete curb shall not be broken off at pavement level in order to construct a driveway. The necessary section of the curb shall be removed and a new curb constructed, providing a full depth drop section for the driveway.
E. 
Any person who damages any portion of the street shall be responsible for its repair. Said repair shall not be final until approved by the Construction Code Official or Borough Engineer.