[Amended 3-21-2005]
No person shall place, deposit or leave upon any street, sidewalk or alley of this City any material whatever, except as provided by this chapter or other City ordinances. No person shall dig, mar, change or alter any sidewalk, street, grade or highway in the City or make or cause or permit to be made any excavation or opening in or under the surface or pavement of any street, sidewalk or other public place within the limits of the City or change, raise or lower any grade, line boundary, curbstone or any of the other designated indications of street lines, highways or other public places within the limits of the City, provided that a person may do any of such acts prohibited by this section as shall be permitted by a right-of-way permit issued by the Director of Public Works or his authorized agent or officer pursuant to this chapter after formal application is made and accompanied by a bond as provided in this chapter.
A. 
Any person desiring to procure a permit as required by § 252-1 shall file with the Director of Public Works a written application stating the name and the business or residence address of the applicant, the name of the street or public place in or under which it is desired to make the excavation or opening or otherwise, as the case may be, the name and the business or residence address of the person for whose benefit the work is to be done, the lot or street number where the opening or excavation or other work is to be made and the time during which it is desired such opening is to be permitted and the reason for and the nature of such excavation, opening or work to be made.
B. 
The Electric Division, Water Division, Sewer Division and District Heating Division of the Board of Public Utilities, National Fuel Gas Distribution Corporation, Windstream, DFT Communications and Time Warner Cable, because of their on-going openings of public streets and sidewalks, shall obtain, on an annual basis, the permit required by § 252-1 of this chapter to cover all excavations made by each respective entity for a period of one year from the date of issuance of such permit. The annual fee for each such permit shall be paid at the time of application therefor in the amount provided in Chapter 175 of the Code.
[Added 4-29-1996; amended 11-29-2009]
[Amended 8-8-1967; 8-10-1992 by L.L. No. 2-1992]
The application for a permit as required by § 252-2 shall be accompanied by a bond to the City, approved as to form and sufficiency by the Corporation Counsel, in the amount provided in Chapter 175, Licenses and Permits, given by a surety company authorized to transact business as such in the state, conditioned for the faithful performance of such work in accordance with the rules, regulations and ordinances of the City, conditioned upon the restoration of such places, sidewalks or highways to the state or shape existing prior to the commencement of such permitted work and to a safe condition for the use thereof and thereafter by the public. The application for a permit required by § 252-2 shall also be accompanied by an insurance certificate naming the City upon such policy and providing that the person making the application will protect, indemnify and save harmless the City against and from any and all damages or claims for damages for injury to persons or property by reason of such permitted work which may arise during such permitted work or arising after the completion or abandonment of such permitted work. Such insurance certificate shall have liability limits in the amount provided in Chapter 175, Licenses and Permits. Any person who, in pursuit of his regular calling, has frequent occasion to open or to make excavations in the public streets, sidewalks or other public places may file a bond in the amount provided in Chapter 175, Licenses and Permits, conditioned as above to cover all excavations made by him for a period of one year from the date of filing, but permits for all excavations must be applied for with the insurance certificate hereinabove required and issued as provided by this chapter.
[Amended 8-8-1967; 3-21-2005; 11-29-2009]
A bond or insurance certificate as provided by § 252-3 shall not be required to be furnished, in the discretion of the Director of Public Works, when application for a permit is made by Windstream, DFT Communications, Time Warner Cable, National Fuel Gas, the Board of Public Utilities or any person employed by the City to perform any of the acts specified by this chapter.
A. 
The Director of Public Works or his authorized agent or officer, upon the filing of the application, bond and insurance certificate, may, in his discretion, issue a permit as provided for in this chapter, which shall state the name and address of the applicant, the location, nature, purposes and extent of the excavation or opening or other work and the dates of granting and of the expiration of such permit.
[Amended 8-8-1967]
B. 
All permits provided for in this chapter shall be consecutively numbered.
C. 
One copy shall be given to the applicant, one copy shall remain on file in the office of the Director of Public Works, and one copy, together with the application, shall be given to the City Clerk/Treasurer.
[Amended 2-10-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006; 8-28-2017; 11-25-2019 by L.L. No. 1-2020]
In case of an emergency arising out of office hours, at night or on Sundays or legal holidays when the office of the Department of Public Works is not open for business, when an immediate excavation may be necessary for the protection of public or private property, the same shall be reported to the Police Department, which shall grant permission to make the necessary excavation on the express condition that an application be made in the manner provided by this chapter on or before 12:00 noon of the next following business day.
[Amended 3-21-2005]
A permit as provided by this chapter shall not be required, in the discretion of the Director of Public Works, for the installation and maintenance of curb boxes by ALLTEL NY, Inc., National Fuel Gas or the Board of Public Utilities.
The granting of permits or privileges to use portions of the walks or highways of the City for a temporary purpose shall not vest in the person to whom such permit or privilege is granted the right to refuse to discontinue the exercise of such permit or the use of such privileges for the time being should such use or exercise for the time being be prohibited by the Chief of Police or the Mayor.
No section in this chapter vesting in a certain officer the power to grant permits or privileges or the right to refuse to grant such permits or privileges shall be interpreted to divest the City Council from either exercising concurrent jurisdiction or of the right of such City Council to rescind, alter, revoke or repeal any such permit, privilege or action granted by any officer.
[Added 7-10-1972]
A. 
Temporary patch. Any excavation or opening in the streets or highways of the City shall be closed with a temporary patch as soon as possible after the work requiring such excavation or opening shall have been completed. Such temporary patch shall be sufficiently stable that the repaired portion shall not be above or below the grade of the surrounding pavement and that normal traffic use by the general public will not be rendered dangerous or unsafe.
B. 
Final repair; responsibility of permittee for backfill. Upon completion of such work and installation of such temporary patch, such person shall notify the Director of Public Works. Final repair of such pavement shall in all cases be made by the City, and the cost thereof shall be charged to the permittee. In the event that such repaired pavement should sink or become uneven during the period of one year following the excavation or opening, it shall be presumed that the excavation or opening was improperly filled, and such pavement and excavation should be repaired by the City at the expense of permittee.
C. 
Payment for work performed in the right-of-way. Each permittee shall be responsible for all costs associated with repair of the damaged right-of-way infrastructure, regardless of prior conditions.
[Amended 3-21-2005]
D. 
Determination of costs of repair of pavement. The costs of repairs and patching of pavements shall be determined by the Director of Public Works and shall, where practicable, be based upon the area in square feet being repaired.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 252-10E, regarding excavation in street where pavement was laid less than three years previous to application, which subsection immediately followed this subsection, was repealed 3-21-2005.
[Amended 7-28-1986; 8-10-1992 by L.L. No. 2-1992]
A fee as provided in Chapter 175, Licenses and Permits, shall be paid by the applicant for each permit issued under this chapter.