Atascadero Municipal Code Art. 2 Permits

Every person except as otherwise provided in this chapter shall obtain an encroachment permit from the engineer before he or she:

(a) Places, makes, or causes to be made, changes or renews an encroachment or an excavation; provided, however, that an owner, lessee or person in control of private property under active agricultural use and immediately abutting the right-of-way may, without obtaining a permit, use the untraveled portion of the right-of-way abutting such private property for the growing and maintenance of agricultural crops and the burning of weeds so long as such use does not interfere with vehicular or pedestrian traffic or drainage of the right-of-way. Encroachments or excavation for which permits are not required pursuant to this chapter are subject to removal under the procedure and penalties provided in Sections 1481 through 1485 of the Streets and Highways Code;

(b) Places, constructs or repairs any curb, gutter, sidewalk, driveway, pavement, base course, retaining or garden wall, storm drain, culvert, pipe, conduit, cable or other work of similar nature in, over, along, across or through any public place, right-of-way or street;

(c) Constructs, reconstructs or repairs any street light, or street lighting system in any street which is open to the public. This subsection does not apply if any agreement with the City exists for the construction, reconstruction or maintenance of such installation;

(d) Constructs, reconstructs, repairs or maintains any overhead structure or other appurtenant facility;

(e) Places or leaves any impediment to travel, including trash and/or debris, upon any public place, right-of-way or street;

(f) Erects or maintains any post, sign, banner, pole, fence, guardrail, mailbox, wall, loading platform or any other structure on, over, under or within a public place, right-of-way or street;

(g) Landscapes or removes any landscaping within a public place, right-of-way or street;

(h) Lights or builds a fire for the purpose of disposal of weeds, brush or debris on a public place, right-of-way or street;

(i) Uses a public place, right-of-way or street in any manner for purposes of subsurface exploration;

(j) Conducts land-surveying operations or makes traffic counts in such a way that it is necessary to excavate on, or within a public place, right-of-way or street, or in any way interferes with the normal flow of traffic on a street;

(k) Causes or permits water (other than water from natural sources) to flow onto, or upon, any public place, right-of-way or street wherein the water is contained within the improved section by curbs or berms;

(Ord. 332 § 2, 1997; Ord. 438 § 4, 2004)

(a) Application for a permit shall be made in writing to the Department, on the forms provided by the Department. An applicant shall complete all information on the forms provided by the Department and any form not so completed may be rejected by the Engineer.

(b) On each application, the applicant or duly authorized agent shall sign a statement on the applicant's behalf that he or she agrees to preserve and save harmless the City and each officer and employee thereof from any liability or responsibility for any accident, loss or damage to persons including death, or property happening or occurring as a proximate result of the applicant's activities pursuant to the permit for which the applicant is applying.

(c) When required by the engineer, the applicant shall attach to, or enclose with, the application four copies of a map, plat, sketch, diagram or similar exhibit which plainly show any and all information necessary to locate, delineate, illustrate or identify the proposed encroachment.

(Ord. 332 § 2, 1997; Ord. 438 § 4, 2004)

(a) The Engineer may refuse to issue a permit under the following conditions:

(1) When he or she finds that the proposed encroachment is not in the best interest of the public;

(2) When he or she finds that the proposed encroachment will be detrimental to the health, safety or general welfare of the public;

(3) When the permit requested is for an excavation in a newly renovated street. Public agencies and public utilities shall determine alternate methods of making necessary repairs to the opening of a newly renovated street. Exceptions may be made to denial of a permit in the situations described above when:

(i) There is an emergency which endangers life or property,

(ii) There is an interruption of essential utility service,

(iii) Repairs must be made by a public agency or public utility to failed pipelines and conduits or when a new connection which could not have been anticipated must be made,

(iv) Work is mandated by City, State, or Federal legislation,

(v) Service is required for buildings or areas where no other reasonable means of providing services exists,

(vi) Boring is not feasible due to technical engineering reasons, or

(vii) Any other situation in which the Engineer has deemed excavation to be in the best interest of the public.

(b) The Engineer may attach such conditions to any application for a permit as in the Engineer's sole discretion are reasonably necessary for the protection of the City and the public including, but not limited to conditions to prevent undue interference with traffic, to limit the extent of any encroachment made or placed, to require the encroachment to be installed and operated in a manner which will preserve and protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, to prevent interference with private property, users of the public place, right-of-way or street or holders of other permits and, to enforce the requirements for and of other permits required to be issued for the encroachment pursuant to the provisions of the Code. Additional security may be imposed to insure those conditions are met.

(c) If a permit is issued to open any newly renovated street, the Engineer may impose an additional fee or deposit as determined by the City Council for such opening. However, such fee or deposit may be waived by the City Council or its designated representative when a public agency or public utility can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the City Council that the excavation is occasioned by circumstances beyond its control.

(d) Each permit shall specify the time the permit becomes null and void and the permit shall become null and void on the date so specified unless the Engineer extends the time. The Engineer may extend the time if, in his or her opinion, the work for which the permit was issued was delayed in completion because of inclement weather, strikes, an act of God, or other causes not within the control of the permittee.

(Ord. 332 § 2, 1997; Ord. 438 § 4, 2004)

(a) A permit may be canceled by the Engineer who may issue an immediate stop work order and red tag the permitted encroachment for any of the following reasons:

(1) When permitted work is not started within the time specified in the permit and/or is started but not diligently prosecuted to completion;

(2) Impending failure, or failure on the part of the permittee to comply with all of the requirements of the permit;

(3) Impending failure, or failure on the part of the permittee to provide for public safety;

(4) For cause as may be determined by the Engineer in his or her sole reasonable discretion for public health and safety reasons.

(b) Any repairs or other work undertaken by the City to restore, repair, complete or otherwise put the public place, right-of-way or street in a safe and usable condition when a permit has been cancelled, a stop work order issued or a red tag posted shall be undertaken pursuant to a force account and the costs of such work shall be paid to the City by the permittee.

(c) Action taken under this section shall not constitute a bar to criminal proceedings provided for in this chapter or otherwise permitted by the Code.

(Ord. 332 § 2, 1997; Ord. 438 § 4, 2004)

The following conditions shall be deemed a part of each permit issued pursuant to this chapter:

(a) All work performed under the permit shall be in conformance with the City of Atascadero Engineering Department Standard Specifications and Drawings or as directed by the City Engineer.

(b) All work under the permit shall be performed by a contractor who possesses a current Class A general engineering contractor's license in the State of California except per Section 7-12.206.

(c) The State Standard Specifications or other specifications as specified by the Engineer shall apply to all permits in the absence of specific City standards.

(d) By accepting the permit, the permittee agrees to be bound by all the terms and conditions set forth in the permit and in this chapter.

(e) Blanket permits, renewable annually, may be issued to any city, utility district or public utility, subject to compliance with all applicable provisions of this chapter or of the permit. The Engineer may revoke any such blanket permit if the permittee fails to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter or the permit. The issuance of a blanket permit does not relieve the permittee from making such reports of activity under the blanket permit as may be required by the Engineer or of the requirements for paying for inspection, repairs and other costs incurred by the Department due to the permittee's activity under the blanket permit. Blanket permits for excavations shall be limited to utility trenches not exceeding two feet in width, dug at a right angle to the centerline of the road, or an excavation not exceeding 30 square feet in area. No road may be closed when using the maximum length option. Two-way traffic shall be maintained at all times.

(f) Permits issued under the authority of this chapter shall be nontransferable.

(g) Work performed without permit; removal of work which poses a threat to the health, safety, or general welfare of the public.

(1) Failure to obtain a permit for an encroachment, as required by this chapter, shall constitute a violation of this chapter and subject a person performing such work to all penalties hereof.

(2) Whenever an encroachment has been installed without a permit as required by this chapter and that work poses a threat to the health, safety and general welfare of the public, the Engineer may, at the permittee's or owner's sole expense, remove the encroachment. Whenever an encroachment has been installed with a permit as required by this chapter and that encroachment does not conform to the design and specification approved by the permit, and that encroachment poses a threat to the health, safety and general welfare of the public, the Engineer may, at the permittee's or owner's sole expense, remove the encroachment.

(h) The permittee shall make the permit available for inspection by the Engineer or representative or by any peace officer or other person having responsibility for safety or maintenance of the public, public place, right-of-way or street.

(i) During the progress of the work, the permittee shall maintain a sign at such work site bearing the name, address, telephone number of the permittee and a 24 hour emergency telephone number where assistance may be obtained throughout the duration of the work permitted. This section shall not be applicable to utilities doing their own maintenance, repairs or installation by their own employees. However, if a utility uses an outside contractor to do such work, the contractor must post a sign in accordance with this section.

(j) All obligations, responsibilities and other requirements of the permittee as described in this chapter shall be binding on subsequent owners of the encroachment.

(Ord. 332 § 2, 1997; Ord. 397, 2002; Ord. 438 § 4, 2004)

The City Engineer may allow a resident on a street to perform minor work in the right-of-way without a contractor license. Minor work is defined as pothole filling, smoothing dirt roads, minor grading, bush clearing and other work approved by the City Engineer. An encroachment permit with a fee is required. The fee will cover the cost of the permit and inspection. A plan detailing the proposed work, the schedule of the work and the proposed traffic control method(s) shall be submitted with the encroachment permit. The applicant shall sign a hold harmless agreement and a release of liability in a form approved by the City Attorney. The City Engineer may deny the permit if the work is not in the best interest of circulation or the residences or if the safety of the workers or traveling public is a risk.

(Ord. 397, 2002; Ord. 438 § 4, 2004)