(A) Public and private uses of public rights-of-way for location of facilities employed in the provision of public services should, in the interests of the general welfare, be accommodated; however, the town must ensure that the primary purpose of the right-of-way, passage of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, is maintained to the greatest extent possible. In addition, the value of other public and private installations, roadways, facilities and properties should be protected, competing uses must be reconciled and the public safety preserved. The use of the right-of-way corridors by other users is secondary to these public objectives and the movement of traffic. This code is intended to strike a balance between the public need for efficient, safe transportation routes and the use of rights-of-way for location of facilities by public and private entities.
(B) It, thus, has several objectives:
(1) To ensure that the public safety is maintained and that public inconvenience is minimized;
(2) To protect the town’s infrastructure investment by establishing repair standards for the pavement, facilities and property in the public rights-of-way, when work is accomplished;
(3) To facilitate work within the rights-of-way through the standardization of regulations;
(4) To maintain an efficient permit process;
(5) To conserve and fairly apportion the limited physical capacity of the public rights-of-way held in public trust by the town;
(6) To establish a public policy for enabling the town to discharge its public trust consistent with the rapidly evolving federal and state regulatory policies, industry competition and technological development;
(7) To promote cooperation among the permittees (as defined herein) and the town in the occupation of the public rights-of-way, and work therein, in order to:
(a) Eliminate duplication that is wasteful, unnecessary or unsightly;
(b) Lower the permittee’s and the town’s costs of providing services to the public; and
(c) Minimize street cuts.
(8) To assure that the town can continue to fairly and responsibly protect the public health, safety and welfare.
(Prior Code, § 165.1.2) (Ord. 503, passed 7-7-2005; Ord. 577, passed 11-6-2014)