[Adopted 4-1-2004 (Title
6, Ch. 3, Secs, 6-3-1, 6-3-2 and 6-3-3, of the 2004 Code of Ordinances)]
A.
Permit required.
(1)
No person, partnership, utility or corporation, or their agents or
employees or contractors, shall make or cause to be made any opening,
excavation or boring in or under any public street, public road, public
alley, public way, public ground, public sidewalk or Town-owned easement
or fill or alter any culvert or construct or install additions or
extensions to its existing facilities within the Town of Lowell without
a permit therefor from the Town Chairperson or Clerk, or their designee.
(2)
The utility or contractor shall submit to the Town a written request for a utility construction/street excavation permit and a plan of the proposed alteration, boring, extension or addition, showing its location and details of construction, including specified depth, method of excavation, open out or auguring, provisions of restoration and whatever the Town would deem necessary for review and consideration. In being issued a permit, the utility or contractor agrees to be bound by the regulations of this section and § 243-5.
B.
Fee. The fee for an excavation or opening permit shall be in accordance
with the Town Board's current Fee Schedule. The fee shall be
paid to the Town Clerk, who shall issue a receipt therefor.
C.
Insurance required. A permit shall be issued only upon condition
that the applicant submit to the Town satisfactory written evidence
that applicant has in force and will maintain during the time the
permit is in effect public liability insurance of not less than $1,000,000
per one person, $1,000,000 for one accident and property damage coverage
of not less than $1,000,000.
D.
Bond.
(1)
Before a permit for excavating, boring or opening any street or public
way may be issued, the applicant must sign a statement in that he/she
will indemnify and save harmless the Town of Lowell and its officers
from all liability for accidents and damage caused by any of the work
covered by his/her permit, and that he/she will fill up and place
in good and safe condition all excavations and openings made in the
street, and will replace and restore the pavement over any opening
he/she may make as near as can be to the state and condition in which
he/she found it, and keep and maintain the same in such condition,
normal wear and tear excepted, to the satisfaction of the Town Board
for a period of one year, and that he/she will pay all fines imposed
upon him/her for any violation of any rule, regulation or ordinance
governing street openings or drain laying adopted by the Town Board
and will repair any damage done to existing improvements during the
progress of the excavation in accordance with the ordinances, rules
and regulations of the Town. Such statement shall also guarantee that
if the Town shall elect to make the street repair, the person opening
the street will pay all costs of making such repair and of maintaining
the same for one year.
(2)
Whenever the Town Board shall find that any such work has become
defective within one year of the date of completion, it shall give
written notice thereof to the contractor, stating the defect, the
work to be done, the cost thereof and the period of time deemed by
the Town Board to be reasonably necessary to complete said work. After
receipt of such notice, the contractor or the surety must, within
the time specified, repair the defect or indemnify the Town for the
cost of doing the work as set forth in the notice.
A.
Frozen ground. No openings in the streets, alleys, sidewalks or public
ways shall be permitted when the ground is frozen except where it
is deemed necessary by the Town Chairperson or Town Clerk, or their
designee.
B.
Removal of paving. In any opening or excavation, all paving materials
shall be removed with the least possible loss of or injury to surfacing
materials and, together with the excavated materials from the opening,
shall be placed so as to cause the least practicable inconvenience
to the public and permit free flow of water along gutters.
C.
Protection of public.
(1)
Every opening and excavation shall be enclosed with sufficient barriers;
sufficient warning lights shall be kept on from sunset to sunrise.
Such lights shall be spaced so as to give adequate warning of the
existence of the opening and of piled excavated materials. No open-flame
warning pots shall be used. Except by special permission from the
Town, no trench shall be excavated more than 250 feet in advance of
pipe or conduit laying nor left unfilled more than 500 feet where
pipe or conduit has been laid.
(2)
All necessary precautions shall be taken to guard the public effectively
from accidents or damage to persons or property through the period
of the work. Each person making such opening shall be held liable
for all damages, including costs incurred by the Town in defending
any action brought against it for damages, as well as cost of any
appeal, that may result from the neglect by such person or his/her
employees of any necessary precaution against injury or damage to
persons, vehicles or property of any kind.
D.
Replacing street surface. In opening any public street, public alley,
public sidewalk, public way, public easement or public ground, the
paving materials, sand, gravel and earth or other material moved or
penetrated and all surface monuments or hubs must be removed and replaced
as nearly as possible in their original condition or position and
the same relation to the remainder as before. Any excavated material
which, in the opinion of the Town, is not suitable for refilling shall
be replaced with approved backfill material. All rubbish shall be
immediately removed. In refilling the opening, the earth must be laid
in layers not more than six inches in depth and each layer mechanically
rammed or tamped to prevent after settling. When the sides of the
trench will not stand perpendicular, sheathing and braces must be
used to prevent caving. No timber, bracing, lagging, sheathing or
other lumber shall be left in any trench. Trenches shall be compacted
to 95% Modified Procter, with test results from a certified soil tester
filed with the Town Engineer. The Town may elect to have the opening
for any street or sidewalk repaired by the Town, in which case the
cost of making such repair and of maintaining it for one year shall
be charged to the person making the street opening.
E.
Notice. It shall be the duty of the permittee to notify the Town
Chairperson and/or Town Clerk, or the Town Engineer when requested
by the Town, and all private individuals, firms and corporations affected
by the work to be done at least 24 hours before such work is to commence.
The Clerk and/or Chairperson, or the Town Engineer when requested
by the Town, shall also be notified at least four hours prior to backfilling
and/or restoring the surface.
F.
Validity of permit. Unless the work shall be commenced within 30
days of the issuance of the permit, the permit shall be void, and
a new permit must be obtained and an additional fee charged. The Town
may extend the time limitation for good cause. The utility or contractor
shall have present at the site of construction and during the restoration
period a copy of the construction plans and Town permit.
G.
Backfilling. Reconstruction shall be in accordance with the current
cross section or according to Town standards, whichever is stricter.
If the surface is not restored as required, the Town may restore the
surface and bill the permittee therefor; the Town shall perform such
work and bill the cost thereof to the permittee.
H.
Emergency excavation. In the event of an emergency, any person, firm
or corporation owning or controlling any sewer, gas main, water main,
conduit or other utility in or under any public street, alley easement,
way or ground and his/her agents and employees may take immediate
proper emergency measures to remedy dangerous conditions for the protection
of property, life, health or safety without obtaining an excavation
permit, provided that such person, firm or corporation shall apply
for an excavation permit not later than the next business day.
I.
Excavation in new streets limited. Whenever the Town Board determines
to provide for the permanent improvement or repaving of any street,
such determination shall be made not less than 30 days before the
work of improvement or repaving shall begin. Immediately after such
determination by the Town Board, the Town Engineer shall notify, in
writing, each person, utility, Town department or other agency owning
or controlling any sewer, water main, conduit or other utility in
or under said street or any real property abutting said street that
all such excavation work in such street must be completed within 90
days. After such permanent improvement or repaving, no permit shall
be issued to open or excavate said street for a period of five years
after the date of improvement or repaving unless, in the opinion of
the Town Board, an emergency exists which makes it absolutely essential
that the permit be issued.
A.
Obstruction of intersections.
(1)
Purpose. No person shall maintain, plant or permit to remain on any
private or public premises situated at the intersection of two or
more roads, streets or alleys in the Town of Lowell any hedge, tree,
shrub or other growth which may obstruct the view of the operator
of any motor vehicle or pedestrian approaching such intersection.
(2)
Traffic visibility. On a corner parcel, no fence, wall, hedge, planting
or structure shall be erected, placed, planted, or allowed to grow
in such a manner as to obstruct vision between a height of 2 1/2
feet and 10 feet above the center line grades of the intersecting
streets in the area bounded by the street lines of such corner parcels
and a line joining the points along said street lines 25 feet from
the point of intersection. In the case of arterial streets intersecting
with other arterial streets or railways, the corner cutoff distances
establishing the triangular vision clearance space shall be increased
to 50 feet.
B.
Obstruction of signs. It is unlawful for any person to plant, cause
to grow, allow to grow or maintain any trees, bushes, shrubbery or
vegetation of any kind which is an obstruction to the clear and complete
vision of any traffic sign in the Town. It shall be the duty of every
owner of such tree, brush, shrubbery or vegetation to remove such
obstruction.
C.
Abatement procedure. Any shrub, tree or other plant which obstructs
the view at an intersection or the view of a traffic sign shall be
deemed to be dangerous to public travel, and the Town Clerk shall
notify the property owner, in writing, describing the conditions,
stating the steps necessary to correct the conditions, and establishing
a reasonable time within which the corrective steps shall be taken.
In the event that effective steps are not taken within the time specified,
it shall be lawful for the Town to abate these conditions to the extent
necessary to assure compliance with the foregoing requirements, and
the costs thereof shall be assessed to the owner.
D.
Trees on and adjacent to highway.
(1)
Removal of fallen trees. If any tree falls from adjacent land into
any highway, the owner or occupant of the land shall immediately remove
the tree from the highway. If the tree is not removed by the property
owner following notice from the Town, the Town may remove from any
highway any fallen tree or trees therein and charge the cost thereof
to the property owner pursuant to § 66.0627, Wis. Stats.
Under emergency situations when public safety is endangered, the Town
may dispense with this procedure and immediately remove the tree.
(2)
Planting trees and shrubs in highway. Any person owning or occupying
land adjoining any highway may, with the approval of the Town Board,
plant, cultivate and maintain trees, shrubs or hedges on the side
of the highway continuous to and within 10 feet of his/her land. Such
trees, shrubs or hedges shall be cut or removed only by the owner
or occupant of the abutting land or by the public authority having
control of the highway.
E.
Cutting or injuring trees on highway. No person shall cut down, break,
girdle, bruise the bark or in any other manner injure any public or
private trees, shrubs or hedges growing within the highway, except
as the owner thereof or the public authority maintaining the highway
may cut down, trim and remove trees, shrubs and hedges for the purpose
of and conducting to the benefit and improvement of the owner's
land or the highway facility. When it is necessary for trees in a
road right-of-way to be removed, the adjacent property owner shall
have a right of first refusal to have the wood.
F.
Fences. No person shall build or reconstruct any fence within the
public road right-of-way.
