[Adopted 11-22-1954; amended 5-6-1985 by Ord. No. 3-1985]
A.
Hereafter it shall be unlawful to construct or lay any pipe, culvert,
bridge or other structure in the public streets, gutters or drains
of Towanda Borough without first filing with the Borough Secretary
an application setting forth the dimensions of the pipe or opening
and the height, width and specifications of the proposed construction.
Upon approval of the specifications of the construction by the Borough
Manager, public works superintendent, building permit officer, or
other officer authorized by the Borough Council to pass upon such
applications, the Borough Secretary shall issue a permit for such
construction or opening on payment to the Borough of a fee based on
the area of the opening required in the street.
All materials required to be excavated from a street opening
shall be removed from the site, and backfilling shall be performed
with 2RC gravel compacted at intervals of no less than five inches
in depth. Such gravel shall be overlain with no less than four inches
of BCBC asphalt binder and no less than one-and-one-half-inch ID2A
wearing surface, and the same shall be sealed with AC20 emulsion.
When an opening is made during a time of year when all local asphalt
pug mills are closed, bituminous cold patch may be used for temporary
repair. The cold patch shall be installed to a compacted thickness
of no less than five inches. When the local asphalt pug mills reopen
for the season, all openings repaired with the cold patch shall be
removed by the original contractor and replaced with the hot mix application
specified previously in this section.
All street openings and the repaving of the same shall be maintained
by and at the risk of the person to whom the permit was issued by
the Borough Secretary for a period of one year from the date of completion
of the repaving, settling in the former opening below the level of
the remaining portion of the street, and further to the maintenance
of the paved surface of the opened portion of the street. However,
if an opening is made requiring the issuance of a new permit in an
area which previously was opened and repaved, the person to whom the
new permit is issued shall have the duty of maintenance and be exclusively
liable for the repaving of the excavation for the period specified
previously in this section until such time as the Borough shall assume
maintenance of the opening. It shall be the duty of the person to
whom the permit for street opening was issued to mark on the patch
or repavement, or otherwise notify officials of Towanda Borough, of
the date such patch or repaving was completed, so that the Borough
can keep a record of the date when it must assume maintenance of the
patch or repaving; in the absence of such identification or notification,
the duty of the Borough to maintain the patch or repaving shall not
commence as otherwise specified in this article.
Whenever hereafter the Borough Council, upon recommendation
of the Borough Manager, Superintendent of Public Works, Building Permit
Officer, or other official of the Borough, shall find any culvert,
pipe or other construction in or over any of the gutters or public
streets of Towanda Borough to be constructed improperly or to be inadequate
to care for the flow of water, or to be unsuited otherwise for the
purpose for which such construction is intended, written notice of
such recommendation and finding shall be given to the person to whom
a permit was issued under this article or to the property owner whose
responsibility it is to maintain any construction or in front of whose
property any construction is erected, requiring such person remove
or repair the same within 10 days. In default of such removal or repair,
the Borough may cause the same to be removed or repaired and collect
the cost thereof, together with a penalty of 10% of such cost in the
manner provided by law for the collection of municipal claims, or
by action of assumpsit, or the Borough on advice of counsel may seek
release by a bill in equity.
The construction or laying of any pipe, culvert, bridge or other
structure, contemplated by this article, without obtaining a permit
therefore from the Borough Secretary, and the failure to maintain
any street repaving in accordance with this article, hereby are declared
to be nuisances. Any person convicted of such construction without
obtaining a permit or of the failure to maintain a street reopening
as provided in this article, before a Magisterial District Judge having
jurisdiction in and for the Borough of Towanda, shall be sentenced
to pay a fine of $300, together with the cost of prosecution, which
fine and cost may be collected in any manner provided by law.
