No person, other than authorized city employees, shall dig or excavate any hole, ditch, trench or tunnel in or under any street, alley, sidewalk, park or other public property or public easement through private property without first having secured a permit for such excavation. Application shall be made to the city clerk.
(Code 2016)
(a) No permit authorized in this article shall be issued until the applicant has given to the city a good and sufficient bond in the sum of $5,000 conditioned that the applicant will faithfully comply with all the terms and conditions of this article, and will indemnify and hold the city harmless against all costs, expenses, damages and injuries by persons or by the city sustained by reason of the carelessness or negligence of the permit holder. No bond for this purpose shall run for longer than two years without being renewed. The bond shall remain in full force and effect as to each excavation for two years after the same has been made or completed.
(b) Any utility operating under a franchise or a contractor under contract with the city for municipal improvement shall not be required to give bond as provided in subsection (a).
(c) Each bond given under this section shall be approved by the city attorney and filed with the city clerk.
(Code 2016)
If the application is approved by the city, the city clerk shall issue a permit upon payment of a fee of $5. Each permit issued under the provisions of this section shall cover only one specified excavation.
(Code 2016)
Any person to whom an excavation permit is issued shall enclose all excavations which they make with sufficient barricades and danger signs at all times, and shall maintain sufficient warning lights or flares at nighttime. The holder of an excavation permit shall take all necessary precautions to guard the public against all accidents from the beginning of the work to the completion of the same.
(Code 2016)
It shall be unlawful for any person, except those having authority from the city or any officer thereof to throw down, interfere with or remove any barriers, barricades, or lights placed in any street to guard and ward the traveling public of any construction work thereon or adjacent thereto.
(Code 2016)
(a) No person shall cut any curb, gutter, pavement, blacktop, sidewalk or excavate any street, alley or other public grounds of the city for any purpose without first obtaining a permit authorizing the same from the city clerk.
(b) Once the work for which the excavation was made has been completed the city shall restore the pavement, blacktop, sidewalk or other surfacing at the expense of the person from whom the excavation was made.
(c) In lieu of the city replacing pavement, it may elect to authorize utility companies or contractors to resurface streets or sidewalks with like materials, subject to approval of the street superintendent.
(Code 2016)
No person shall change or alter any gutter, storm sewer, drain or drainage structure which has been constructed, or is being lawfully maintained or controlled by the city unless such change or alteration has been authorized or directed by the governing body.
(Code 2016)
No person shall walk upon, drive or ride over or across any pavement, sidewalk or incomplete grading which has not been opened for traffic.
(Code 2016)
(a) No person shall occupy any portion of any street, alley or sidewalk for the purpose of temporarily storing building materials without first obtaining a permit for such temporary use from the governing body.
(b) No person may use any portion of any sidewalk or street right-of-way for the purpose of displaying or offering for sale wares, goods, merchandise or other items. Nothing in this article, however, shall be construed as prohibiting the city governing body from waiving the prohibition of this subsection in connection with community promotions or community-wide celebrations when such waiver is considered to be in the best interest of the city.
(Code 2016)
It shall be unlawful for any person to place, throw or cause to be placed or thrown in or on any street, alley, sidewalk or other public grounds of the city, any glass, tacks, nails, bottles, wire or other dangerous objects that might wound any person or animal, or cut or puncture any pneumatic tire while passing over the same.
(Code 2016)
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to deposit or throw any waste oil, fuel oil, kerosene, gasoline or other products of petroleum or any acids into or upon any street or public grounds of the city, or willfully to permit the same to be spilled, dripped or otherwise to come into contact with the surface of any street, alley, or sidewalk within the city.
(Code 2016)
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to throw or discharge water into any ditch, street, avenue or alley in the city or to cause any water to stand or form pools or to flow in a stream thereon. This section shall not apply to persons cleaning or flushing such streets, avenues or alleys under the authority of the governing body, nor to members of the fire department.
(Code 2016)
It shall be unlawful for any person to make or cause to be made, any fire upon any of the paved streets, alleys, or street intersections within the city.
(Code 2016)
It shall be unlawful to throw or bat any ball, stone, or other hard substance into, on or across any street or alley or at or against any building or vehicle.
(Code 2016)
It shall be unlawful to haul over the streets or alleys of this city any loose material of any kind except in a vehicle having a tight box so constructed as to prevent the splashing or spilling of any of the substances therein contained upon the streets or alleys.
(Code 2016)
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to erect, construct, install, place, maintain or allow to remain, or to permit the erection, construction, installation, placing or maintaining of any encroachment upon or above the right-of-way of the following designated streets or portion of streets:
Main Street from the west city limits to the east city limits.
(b) The word “encroachment” when used in this section, shall mean and include any sign, awning, canopy, marquee, billboard or other advertising device, merchandise or produce stand, or display, building or other structure or other use for private purposes of any character which exists in or rests upon or projects above the right-of-way or a public street.
(c) Existing encroachments, as heretofore permitted by the city, shall be discontinued within a period not to exceed 60 days from and after the effective date of this section unless it shall become defective and unsafe prior to the expiration of such period, in which case it shall be removed by the owner or person permitting its erection, construction, installation, placing or maintenance of the same.
(1) Existing encroachments situated upon the surface of the right-of-way which interfere with construction, reconstruction and maintenance of the right-of-way shall be abated and removed in a period not to exceed 60 days.
(2) All encroachments, by reason of color or placement, that obscure or detract from the effectiveness of highway signs, markers or traffic control signals shall be abated and discontinued forthwith.
(d) The use of the right-of-way by owners or lessees of abutting property for the storage of vehicles, placement of portable signs or other private use is prohibited on such streets.
(e) The use of sidewalks or other areas of the right-of-way for the storage or display of merchandise is prohibited on such streets.
(f) All encroachments on such streets shall be removed.
(g) The governing body shall direct the city clerk to forthwith issue notice requiring the removal of such encroachment within the time specified. Such notice shall be in writing, served in person or by certified mail, upon the owner or his agent. When the owner or agent is unknown, such notice shall be published once in the official city newspaper. Upon failure or refusal of the owner or his agent to remove the encroachment within the time fixed in the notice, the city shall cause the encroachment to be removed.
(Ord. 213; Code 1999, 42-1; Code 2016)
(a) No whistles shall be installed within the city limits without the prior approval of the city through a written permit. Such a permit shall be issued upon a showing that there will be compliance with all applicable laws and ordinances.
(b) If a person desires the installation of a whistle for a ditch, driveway, alley, crossing or any other location within the city, and such person is placing a new home within the city, the city shall provide and install at the city’s expense one 20-foot whistle, and one load of rock, providing approval has been granted by the city.
(c) Any existing whistles within the city shall be maintained by the city.
(d) Any person desiring any additional whistles added to his property shall obtain the proper permit and approval, and then may add the additional whistles at the person’s own expense.
(Ord. 405-97; Code 1999, 42-2; Code 2016)