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The scope of this chapter is intended to encompass:
(a) All utility operators serving any portion of or maintaining any utility line within the County of Loudoun and the representatives thereof; and
(b) All contractors performing demolition or excavation on any private property, public right of way or public easement within the County of Loudoun.
As used in this chapter:
(a) “Blasting” means the use of an explosive to excavate.
(b) “Contractor” means any person, including a subcontractor, who contracts with an operator or the owner of public or private property, for the purpose of engaging in excavation, demolition, or blasting.
(c) “Demolition” means the razing of any structure above the existing grade, or the demolition of any structure below the existing grade.
(d) “Emergency” means any condition which may cause an interruption of essential services resulting from the destruction of, disruption of, or damage to underground utility lines. (Emergency is classified as less severe than hazardous).
(e) “Excavate” or “excavation” means any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the grounds is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced by means of any tools, equipment, or explosives and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, dredging, drilling, auguring, tunnelling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing and riving, wrecking, razing, rendering, moving, or removing any structure or mass of material, but not including the tilling of the soil for agricultural purposes.
(f) “Hazardous” means any condition which may cause an interruption of essential services and, in addition, may result in death or injury to persons or property due to destruction of, disruption of, or damage to underground utility lines. (Hazardous is classified as more severe than emergency).
(g) “Mechanized equipment” means powered equipment used to excavate, and includes equipment used for plowing-in or pulling-in cable or pipe.
(h) “Notify, notice or notification” means the completed delivery of information to the person to be notified and the receipt of same by such person to be notified within the time limits prescribed in this chapter. When the person to be notified is an operator, the notification shall be made to the notification center pursuant to Sections 56-265.16:1 and 56-265.17, of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended, and, when the notification is to be made by an operator in response to a notification it has received, such notification shall be made to the same person who notified the notification center. Notification may be either orally or in writing, with written notification center. Notification may be either orally or in writing, with written notification to be made by hand delivery, telegram, facsimile, United States mail or by United States certified mail, return receipt requested. Notice given orally should be recorded and made part of the permanent record at the notification center.
(i) “Notification center” means any organization among whose purpose is the dissemination to one or more operators of the notification of planned construction activities in a special area. For the purpose of this chapter, Miss Utility (Telephone 800-257-7777) and/or the current holder of the one call State Certification Center, shall be considered to be the notification center.
(j) “Operator” means any person who furnishes or transports any of the following materials or services by means of a utility line:
(1) Flammable, natural, toxic or corrosive gas;
(2) Petroleum, petroleum products and hazardous liquids;
(3) Electricity;
(4) Sanitary sewer;
(5) Communications;
(6) Water; or
(7) Cable television.
(k) “Person” means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, state, subdivision or instrumentality of a state, or the legal representative thereof.
(l) “Property owner” means any person who owns fee title to or leases a given area of land, excluding, however, any recorded easement or right of way.
(m) “Surface replacement” means the routine maintenance or limited replacement of sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and similar structures, including patch-type road paving and street repairs.
(n) “Utility line” means any underground conduit and its related facilities including pipe or cable, by which an operator furnishes or transports material or services.
(o) “White lining” means the designation of the proposed limits of excavation or demolition with white paint by the contractor.
(p) “Working days” means Monday through Friday, excluding, however, any public and legal holidays.
(Ord. 91-04. Passed 3-5-91.)
No provision of this chapter shall exempt any person from complying with the requirements and provisions of any existing laws and ordinances, including those of Loudoun County, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State Corporation Commission of Virginia, the Office of Pipeline Safety of the U.S. Department of Transportation, or the U.S. Department of Labor.
(Ord. 91-04. Passed 3-5-91.)
This chapter shall be administered and enforced by the Director of the Loudoun County Department of Building and Development or his or her designee who may cause to be performed such tasks and inspections as he or she may deem reasonably necessary.
(Ord. 91-23. Passed 9-17-91.)
(a) The requirements of this chapter shall not apply to any property owner who, without the aid of a contractor, is performing work within the boundaries of his or her property which does not require the acquisition of any permit issued by Loudoun County.
(b) The requirements of Section 1024.08 shall not apply to any person acting as or for the operator of a damaged line in making repairs to his or her own underground facilities or repairs to the streets or alleys themselves in a condition of emergency when such repairs must be made within a shorter period of time than that provided for in Section 1024.08(a). However, this exemption from obtaining information shall not excuse the person making the excavation from taking all reasonable precautions to protect underground facilities or from any liability for damages caused by his or her negligence.
(c) Excavation by a contractor for the purpose of surface replacement shall not require compliance with the notification and marking procedures of this chapter only if it does not exceed in depth the structure to be replaced or repaired.
(Ord. 91-04. Passed 3-5-91.)
(a) No person shall make or begin any excavation or demolition without first notifying the notification center for that area at least forty-eight hours but no more than ten days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal State and national holidays, prior to the commencement of the proposed excavation or demolition, or within such time as agreed upon in writing at any preconstruction meeting. Notice to the notification center shall be deemed to be notice to each operator who is a member of that notification center. When an operator requests a person to perform work with less than forty-eight hours notice, the operator shall be required to meet the notification requirements of this section.
(b) Notification as provided in subsection (a) hereof shall be valid for ten working days and may be extended for an additional ten working-day period upon request to the operator at least forty- eight hours prior to expiration of the original ten working-day period.
(c) Every notice served by any person on a notification center shall contain the following information:
(1) The contractor's name and telephone number;
(2) The name of the person for whom the proposed work is being done;
(3) The date and approximate time work is to commence;
(4) The location and approximate depth of proposed work;
(5) The nature and extent of work to be done;
(6) The contractor's field representative or field contact, and field telephone number, if available; and
(7) Any special remarks.
(d) The telephone number(s) to be utilized for serving notice to operators as required in subsection (a) hereof shall be located on the approved site plan, subdivision plan, or engineering plan which is to be at the site during excavation or demolition as required in Section 1024.09(c).
(e) In the event of ongoing excavation or demolition, notification by a contractor as provided in subsection (b) hereof shall be required every ten working days as long as said excavation or demolition is continuous and all markings of underground utility lines remain clearly visible, as provided in Section 1024.10(b).
(f) After giving notice required by this section, if no notice or marking has been made as provided in Section 1024.10, the person shall not begin any excavation or demolition until three hours after an additional notification to the operator.
(Ord. 91-04. Passed 3-5-91.)
(a) Verification that rough grading is to within six inches of finished grade must be provided to the operator in writing by the contractor or property owner before such operator shall commence excavation for the installing of his or her utility lines.
(b) When excavation approaches within two feet of the location of any existing utility line(s), which shall have been previously located horizontally as provided in Section 1024.10(a), the exact location of such existing utility line(s) must be determined by adequately exposing the same by hand digging within the proposed horizontal or vertical limits of excavation before excavation may resume. To prevent damage to such exposed existing utility lines, or the protective coating thereof, proper support shall be provided where required.
(c) Any contractor performing excavation or demolition is required to have an approved site plan, subdivision plan or engineering plan indicating the plan view of all known existing and proposed utility lines at the site during excavation or demolition.
(d) Any contractor performing excavation or demolition should designate the proposed limits of such excavation or demolition by white lining the affected area.
(e) Any person who is designated to operate mechanized equipment for the purpose of excavation or demolition shall not perform such excavation or demolition until he or she has examined the plan(s) provided in subsection (c) hereof.
(f) The act of obtaining information as required by this chapter shall not excuse any person making any excavation or demolition from doing so in a careful and prudent manner nor shall it excuse such person from liability for any damage resulting from his or her negligence.
(Ord. 91-04. Passed 3-5-91.)
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