A. The county council has delegated the county engineer as the authority to approve, deny, or approve with conditions any and all excavation permits on county rights of way. The county engineer shall have wide discretionary power to grant or deny permits as deemed to be in the best interests of the county. Such decisions may be appealed to the county council, whose decision shall be final.
B. Upon receipt of a properly completed excavation permit application, the county engineer shall:
1. Review the application for completeness.
2. Review the area to be excavated to determine that adequate capacity is available, and that the placement of facilities applied for will not jeopardize any higher or more necessary uses known to the county.
3. Issue a timely response to the applicant in the form of an approved permit, approved permit with conditions, or permit denial.
4. Where a franchise agreement is required under this chapter, the county engineer shall not issue an excavation permit prior to the county council's approval of the franchise.
5. The county engineer is expressly empowered to determine the depth of the placement of all infrastructure within the county right of way. (Ord. 800, 3-6-2013; amd. Ord. 800-A, 2-5-2020)