[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
No person, except an employee of the Department of Public Works in the performance of his/her duties, shall dig up the pavement or ground in any public street, lane or alley or any sidewalk in the City or erect any staging for building thereon or place any materials or rubbish thereon without first obtaining from the City Engineer a written permit stating the space in the street or other public place that may be occupied and the time allowed for such occupancy, and such other provisions as he/she may deem best, and filing with him/her a written agreement under seal, with sureties, if required, to comply strictly with the terms of the permit and indemnify the City from all loss, cost or expense that it may suffer by reason of such occupancy.
[Added 4-19-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-138]
In all underground conduits sufficient and necessary space as shall be determined by the City Council, upon consultation with the IT Director, shall be reserved free of expense for the use of the fire, police and other information technology, telegraph and telephone signal wires and/or cables belonging to the City and used exclusively for municipal purposes, and the City, by its Inspector of Wires and/or other proper servants, shall be allowed access to such conduits at all times. The City shall be allowed equal facilities and privileges with others using such conduits in putting in, taking out and repairing wires. In the alternative, another conduit, also known as a "shadow conduit," of equal size and length may be laid along with the permitted conduit, which shall be for the exclusive use, and under the exclusive control of, the City.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
A. 
No street, lane, alley, sidewalk or other public place in the City shall, under any permit granted as provided in § 202-1, be dug up, obstructed or otherwise rendered inconvenient or unsafe for travel unless the person receiving such permit shall put, and at all times keep up, a suitable railing or fence around the section of the street, lane, alley or other public place so obstructed, so long as the same shall remain unsafe or inconvenient, and shall also keep, as specified by the City Engineer, lighted lanterns, fixed in some proper manner, every night from twilight through the whole night so long as such obstruction shall remain.
B. 
The person receiving such permit shall also, within such reasonable time as the City Engineer shall direct, repair such street, lane, alley, sidewalk or public place in such manner as shall meet the approval of the City Engineer.
No person shall ride, drive, wheel, draw or push any cart, wheelbarrow or other vehicle of burden or pleasure upon or along any sidewalk in the City, except for the purpose of crossing such sidewalk to go into or out of some adjoining enclosure, provided that this section shall not apply to children's carriages propelled by hand, invalids' tricycles or chairs and bicycles pushed by hand.
[Added 11-8-2004 by Ord. No. 05-035]
A. 
Definition. This section refers to scooters, powerboards, and mini-motorbikes that have two or more wheels, that are designed to be stood upon or sat upon by the operator, and that are gas-powered by an engine or motor capable of propelling the vehicle with or without human thrust.
B. 
Prohibition from sidewalks. No person may use, ride or otherwise operate a gas-powered scooter, powerboard, or mini-motorbike on a sidewalk in the City of Melrose.
C. 
Prohibition from streets and other areas. No person may use, ride or otherwise operate a gas-powered scooter, powerboard, or mini-motorbike on a public way or street unless that person is 16 years of age or older and is carrying a valid driver's/operator's license. No person shall operate said vehicle on the grounds of any public school or other City property, including parks.
D. 
Penalties. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to a fine of $50.
E. 
Enforcement. The Melrose Police Department shall have the authority to enforce this section. The provisions of MGL c. 40, § 21D, may be used to enforce this section.
F. 
Impoundment. The Melrose Police Department shall have the authority to impound any vehicle used in violation of this section. The City shall return any impounded vehicle only upon payment of an impoundment fee of $100 and a daily storage fee of $10 per day.
G. 
Exceptions. Nothing in this section shall prevent the legal use of:
(1) 
Any mechanical or motorized device designed and used to assist a person with a disability affecting ambulation or a device for which the user has a medical necessity;
(2) 
A moped that has been registered with the Registry of Motor Vehicles; or
(3) 
A motorized bicycle that has been registered with the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
H. 
Regulatory authority. The Chief of the Melrose Police Department shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement and enforce this section.
No person shall allow any gate or door belonging to premises owned or occupied by him/her or under his/her control to swing on, over or into any street or sidewalk in the City.
No firewood, coal or other fuel shall be allowed to remain unnecessarily on any sidewalk or in any street, lane or alley of the City, and, in case it must so remain after twilight or through the night, the owner shall place and keep a sufficient light upon the same.
No vehicle shall be left unattended within the limits of any private way in such a position that it would obstruct the access of fire apparatus to any part of a tenement house, private dwelling or apartment house, as defined in MGL c. 145, § 2.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
No person shall cross with a horse-drawn or commercial motor vehicle any concrete, brick or granolithic sidewalk in the City, except over regularly recognized driveways, without first obtaining from the City Engineer a written permit stating the place to be crossed and filing with the City Clerk a written agreement under seal, with sureties if required, approved by the City Engineer to indemnify the City from all loss, cost or expense that it may suffer by reason of such crossing.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
No person shall move, or cause to be moved, any building through any public street in the City without first obtaining from the City Engineer a written permit therefor stating the streets through which, and the time within which, the building may be moved, and any other provision that he/she may deem best, and filing with him/her a written agreement under seal, with sureties if required, to comply with the terms of such permit and indemnify the City for all loss, cost or expense it may suffer by reason of the moving of such building.
State law reference — Moving buildings, MGL c. 85, § 18.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 56, Officers and Employees, § 56-8.
[Added 6-20-1994 by Ord. No. 94-345; amended 12-16-2002 by Ord. No. 02-060A]
A. 
Fees, deposits and insurance.
(1) 
A nonrefundable application fee as provided in § 202-14 of this chapter is required for each location where a permit is requested.
[Amended 8-21-2017 by Ord. No. 2018-4]
(2) 
A five-hundred-dollar (cash or certified check) refundable deposit is required and will be held until the permanent trench repair has been completed and approved by the City Engineer or his/her designee. Interest earned, if any, on said deposit will become the property of the City of Melrose and is not refundable. Trenches not inspected due to the failure of the permittee to properly notify the City Engineer shall be subject to loss of deposit and/or repeat of reconstruction procedures.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(3) 
A five-thousand-dollar performance and payment bond is required for each roadway/sidewalk opening permit granted. Blanket bonds in the amount of $50,000 may be substituted for City-wide operations. This bond will cover all street or sidewalk permits issued to a particular contractor or permittee for work within the City during a specified period of time.
(4) 
Any contractor(s) representing the permittee must furnish the City of Melrose with a certificate of insurance for general liability in the amount of $500,000.
B. 
Permit issuance.
(1) 
Permits shall be issued by the City Engineer after proper presentation of the above documentation per § 202-1.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(2) 
Work shall not begin prior to 7:00 a.m.
(3) 
Traffic (vehicular and pedestrian) control shall be the responsibility of the permittee.
(4) 
Permits shall be granted for a thirty-calendar-day period. Extensions may be granted at the discretion of the City Engineer.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(5) 
Agents of the City who are performing work directly for the City of Melrose shall be exempt from the permitting process. However, the trench repair standards established by this section shall apply to all excavations in the City of Melrose.
C. 
Notification.
(1) 
Dig-Safe must be notified.
(2) 
The City Engineer shall be notified 24 hours prior to the commencement of any work and again 24 hours prior to the final pavement repair.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(3) 
The Melrose Police and Fire Departments shall be notified, as applicable.
D. 
Construction procedures.
(1) 
The pavement shall be precut and may only be disturbed within the area requiring excavation for repair, replacement or new installation. When the opening occurs within two feet of the curb and/or edge of the hardened surface, the paved area between the excavation and the curb and/or edge must be removed. All final pavement cuts shall be straight lines with ninety-degree angles at all corners.
(2) 
In the backfill process, the backfill shall be comprised of suitable material as approved/determined by the City Engineer or his/her designee. Cement concrete shall be used around all electrical and telephone conduit in trenches. Controlled-density fill (CDF) may be required. Compaction (when CDF is not used) shall be executed in six-inch lifts. Each lift shall be 95% compacted by mechanical means. When the total surface area of an individual opening in bituminous concrete is less than nine square feet, all backfill material(s) will be placed to within a minimum of six inches of the pavement surface or the thickness of the original pavement structure, whichever is greater. For individual openings with surface areas of nine square feet and larger, the backfill material(s) will be installed to within four inches of the pavement surface or the thickness of the existing structure, whichever is greater.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(3) 
The hardened pavement shall then be cut back and removed six inches to 12 inches from all sides of the initial excavation to the depth of the original pavement structure, exposing the undisturbed gravel subbase. Edges will be cut perpendicular to the surrounding surface and have a clean, vertical face, particularly in the corners. All structures shall be leveled to the lines with ninety-degree angles at the point(s) of intersection.
(4) 
All surplus and/or unacceptable excavated materials shall be removed from the job site immediately. The excavation site shall be maintained in a clean and safe condition at all times. Sidewalks and roadways shall be cleaned and opened to traffic at the end of each working day, unless otherwise authorized by the City Engineer. Access to properties is to be maintained. The removal and disposal of materials, including pavement, is the responsibility of the permittee and shall be achieved in such a manner as to minimize interference with pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(5) 
The permittee shall be liable for the condition of the roadway and sidewalk openings and protection thereof prior to the temporary repair and will be held responsible for any and all damage due to any failure of barricades, barriers, warning signs, lights or steel plates used to properly protect the work from traffic, pedestrians or other causes. All open ditches shall be protected by uniform traffic control devices in conformance with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation manual. All excavations must be properly secured to ensure the safety of the traveling public and immediately reported to the City Engineer when secured, unsecured or changed for any reason.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158; 8-21-2017 by Ord. No. 2018-4]
(6) 
Temporary patching shall be performed only by contractors approved by the City Engineer and shall be the financial responsibility of the permittee. All barricades and/or safety devices shall be immediately removed from the vicinity upon completion of the temporary bituminous patching application.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(7) 
Any improperly prepared excavations, including those left with unacceptable backfill material or insufficient pavement depth, shall be temporarily paved by a municipal contract representative and charged to the refundable deposit of the permittee. The deposit shall immediately be replenished to the original amount. At a later date, the trench shall be reexcavated and prepared correctly by the permittee. Under these conditions the permittee may also be subject to permit cancellation, loss of deposit and any and all expenses incurred by the City with respect to the excavation.
(8) 
All excavations will be allowed to settle and/or consolidate for a period of time before the final opening is attempted. This term will be defined as a minimum of 30 days when CDF was used as a backfill material. Compacted gravel subbase must experience at least one seasonal freeze/thaw cycle. The Public Works Department reserves the right to address any subbase deficiency within or adjacent to the original excavated area with whatever measure is deemed necessary during this period. These corrective procedures will be the financial responsibility of the permittee.
(9) 
Immediately after the specified settling period, the excavation shall be permanently restored by the contract representative for the City in accordance with Department of Public Works requirements and the approval of the City Engineer. The following procedures will be strictly adhered to:
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(a) 
The infrared method will be utilized for trenches in bituminous concrete that do not exceed 100 linear feet.
(b) 
A compacted, one-and-one-half-inch bituminous concrete overlay will be required (curb to curb) for sections of asphalt pavement affected by trenches exceeding the one-hundred-foot restriction.
(c) 
Microsurfacing may be substituted for the bituminous concrete overlay at the sole discretion of the City Engineer.
(d) 
An approved petroleum resin sealant may be required as a substitution for, or in addition to, the bituminous concrete overlay as determined by the City Engineer. Material formulation and application will be established in the field when this condition is exercised.
(e) 
All temporary asphalt patches installed in concrete sidewalks will be reexcavated to the extremities of the square(s) in which the excavation is contained. All excavated materials shall be properly disposed of. The finished concrete will be replaced to the depth, strength and contour of the original structure.
(f) 
All other surfaces, i.e., brick, grass, wood, etc., are to be replaced consistent with the original and in strict accordance with Department of Public Works guidelines and with the approval of the City Engineer.
(g) 
Under the permanent restoration provisions above, the permittee will also be responsible for any or all necessary appurtenant measures, including but not limited to surface profiling, resetting utility structures, compatible crack filling, tack coating, infrared heating of the seams, etc. Auxiliary measures will be determined by site inspection with an authorized representative of the City Engineer.
(h) 
All restoration procedures shall be the financial obligation of the permittee.
(10) 
Pavement cracks that develop after the permanent repair has been performed within and immediately adjacent to the excavated area will be filled and/or sealed by a contract representative of the City in accordance with Department of Public Works requirements and the City Engineer's approval. These crack repairs shall be the financial responsibility of the permittee.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
(11) 
The permittee shall be responsible for any settlement, subbase failure and pavement cracks that develop in or adjacent to the original excavated area for a period of three years from the date of final accepted permanent repair or, if CDF is used, for a period of one year from the date of the final accepted permanent repair. Any surface disorder caused by settlement and/or subbase movement within the general area containing a street or sidewalk opening shall be addressed by the Department of Public Works or private vendor at the direction of the City Engineer. All related corrective measures will be charged to the permittee, and the term of obligation will begin again.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]
E. 
Penalties.
(1) 
Anyone opening streets or sidewalks without a permit is subject to cancellation and refusal of existing and future permits, license revocation and associated fines.
(2) 
Any entity excavating without a permit shall be penalized a sum equal to 10 times the cost of a permit per day per excavation, i.e., each excavation each day will be assessed 10 times the permit cost for each day of unauthorized activity.
[Amended 8-21-2017 by Ord. No. 2018-4]
(3) 
Any entity excavating with a permit beyond the permit's expiration date shall be penalized a sum equal to four times the cost of a permit per day.
F. 
Billing and collections.
(1) 
Police protection, if required, shall be paid by the permittee either directly or billed by the City contract representative at cost, plus handling charges.
(2) 
At the direction of the City, the appropriate contract representative shall bill the permittee for the above-cited services. Payment for these services will be rendered within 30 days. On past-due invoices a service charge of 1 1/2% per month will be allowed on accounts 30 days past due, provided that the rate does not exceed the amount which is permitted by law. Invoices exceeding 90 days shall be paid by the City. The City will then exercise the right to fine the permittee accordingly. Under these conditions total accrued service charges, together with all costs of collection, including attorney's fees, will become the financial obligation of the permittee.
(3) 
The City reserves the right to assume the billing function, including assessment and conveyance of reasonable handling charges, as provided by Massachusetts General Laws.
G. 
Modifications and exceptions. The City reserves the sole right to make changes or exceptions to this regulation, subject to written notice and as authorized by the City Engineer.
[Amended 5-21-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-158]