(A) Except in the case of emergency repairs, it shall be unlawful for any public utility to trim any tree, whether or not located along such public utility’s right-of-way or easement, without first having met with the City Forester and having obtained a permit to do so. The permit shall be issued in accordance with § 93.09.
(B) (1) The city may enter into tree permit agreements with public utilities for activities involving similarly situated trees or groupings of trees which permit pruning of trees, directional boring, tree encroachment and/or tree removal, to allow reasonable construction activities or to avoid a threat to the continuous provision of public utility services. The permit agreement shall include clearly expressed standards describing the specific situations where pruning, directional boring, tree encroachment and/or tree removal is permitted to assure reasonable public utility construction activities or to avoid a threat to the continuous provision of public utility services. Such standards shall not interfere with the public utility’s obligation or ability to provide service and shall be in accordance with and not prohibit activity consistent with the public utility’s written pruning and trenching specifications reviewed by and filed with the Kentucky Public Service Commission, which shall be submitted to the city, or in the absence of such specifications as mutually agreeable to the city and the public utility.
(2) The permit agreement shall further include provisions for replacement of public trees that are removed as a result of the public utility activities, which may include a fee to be paid periodically to the city for stump grinding, tree replacement and maintenance of trees removed by the public utility, in which case the city and not the public utility would be responsible for such actions.
(3) With respect to any public utility providing multiple types of services which by their nature have the potential to affect trees differently, such public utility may obtain separate tree permit agreements for each such type of service. Enforcement actions under § 93.99 of this chapter may be taken against any public utility with a valid public utility permit agreement, or against any employee, agent, or representative of such a public utility, only for violation of this chapter caused by the gross negligence or intentional actions of the public utility, employee, agent, or representative. The Forest Board may charge a public utility a fee for the issuance of a permit under this division, provided that such fee shall not exceed $2,400 per year. Any entity or person that performs any work on trees as described in this chapter, may not park equipment in a manner that may cause compaction.
(Ord. 8, Series 2019, passed 9-16-2019) Penalty, see § 93.99