A. The city engineer shall, from time to time, impose excavation restrictions on portions of the public way, as provided in subsection B of this section. Except as provided in section 14.32.090 of this chapter, the city engineer shall not issue a permit for any portion of the public way subject to an excavation restriction, contrary to the terms of such restriction.
B. 1. Excavation restrictions shall be imposed by the city engineer for seven (7) years following the completion of new streets, and for three (3) years following the resurfacing of streets.
2. Following the completion of any work in the public way pursuant to a permit, the city engineer shall impose excavation restrictions of five (5) years either: a) solely on the owner performing such work, or b) on such owner and on such other prospective permittee or class of permittees as the city engineer shall determine.
3. Excavation restrictions shall be imposed by the city engineer on any portion of the public way for so long as excess capacity exists in such portion of the public way.
4. The excavation restrictions imposed by the city engineer may be either limited or comprehensive in scope. For example, a limited restriction on excavation for construction of telecommunication lines shall not preclude excavations for gas utility lines. A comprehensive restriction shall restrict all activity in the affected portion of the public way, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. In addition, the categories identified in subsections B1 through B3 of this section are not mutually exclusive. For example, the city engineer may impose a comprehensive three (3) year restriction on a resurfaced street, and at the same time a limited five (5) year restriction on electric utility facilities for the same street, if electric utility facilities were installed at the time of the street resurfacing.
5. The nature, scope and duration of the restriction shall be consistent with the terms described in the notice provided for in subsection C of this section.
6. The nature, scope and duration of each excavation restriction shall be evidenced in writing, which writing shall be maintained in the files of the City Engineer, and shall be available for inspection during regular business hours at the Office of the City Engineer.
7. Before performing directional boring or other excavation in the public way, an excavator must do the following with respect to every sewer and water lateral and storm drain that is located within the length of the proposed excavation site when the proposed excavation is more than twenty four inches (24") deep: a) locate each lateral and drain, either by a nondestructive sensing method or by potholing, and b) physically mark the location of each lateral and drain. This section shall not affect an excavator's liability for damage to a sewer or water lateral or storm drain in connection with a boring or excavation operation.
C. The City Engineer shall publish, or cause to be published, on or before December 31 of each year, a notice advertising his/her intent to impose excavation restrictions relating to portions of the public way which will be under construction during the next succeeding calendar year. The notice shall be published at least once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation within the City, which is used by the City for the publication of legal notices; provided that the first publication shall be on or before December 31. In addition, such notice shall be mailed by the City Engineer to each person which has made written request therefor. Such notice shall describe: 1) the nature of the project giving rise to the restriction; 2) the portion of the public way affected by the restriction; 3) the effective date of the restriction; 4) the duration of the restriction; and 5) the nature of the restriction. The notice shall invite all potential users to whom the restriction will apply to participate in the project in the manner described by the City Engineer, which may include: 1) locating facilities in the same trench as an applicant, 2) sharing the cost of joint facilities with such applicant, 3) collocating facilities within a common conduit, 4) entering into lease arrangements with the applicant for use of facilities, 5) constructing separate facilities in the project area within the same time frame, 6) otherwise cooperating in a manner mutually agreeable to such users or 7) participating in the project in such manner as the City Engineer determines shall be in the best interests of the City. All collocations shall comply with applicable Building and Safety Codes or requirements. Such notice shall further provide that all interested users must file a permit application with the City Engineer not later than six (6) weeks prior to the estimated date of commencement of construction of the proposed project. Nothing herein shall require the City Engineer to publish notice of an excavation restriction which applies to only one user, provided that written notice of such excavation restriction is mailed or otherwise provided to such user. (Ord. 74-18, 2018: Ord. 70-99 § 1, 1999)