San Carlos Municipal Code Art. II Street Excavations and Private Improvements

No private improvements of any kind or nature shall be attempted or made to any public street or thoroughfare within the City until and unless the City Engineer or his/her designee has issued his written permission and specifications therefor. (Ord. 1491 § 3 (part), 2015: Ord. 302 § 1, 1951)

A. Whenever the City Council shall provide for the paving, repaving, or any roadway surface treatment that includes the full length and width of any street, the Public Works Director or his/her designee shall promptly mail a written notice thereof to each person owning any sewer, main, conduit or other utility in or under the street or any real property, whether improved or unimproved, abutting the street, notifying them that the street has become a moratorium street.

1. Such notice shall notify such persons that no excavation permit shall be issued for openings, cuts or excavations in a moratorium street for a period of five years after the date of the paving or repaving of the street.

2. Such notice shall also notify such persons that applications for excavation permits, for work to be done prior to such paving or repaving, shall be submitted promptly in order that the work covered by the excavation permit may be completed not later than forty-five days from the date of the decision of the City Council to pave or repave the street.

3. The Public Works Director or his/her designee shall also promptly mail copies of the notice to the occupants of all houses, buildings and other structures abutting the street for their information, and to State agencies and City departments or other persons that may desire to perform excavation in such City street.

B. Within such forty-five days, every public utility company receiving notice as prescribed herein shall perform such excavation work, subject to the provisions of this section, as may be necessary to install or repair sewers, mains, conduits or other utility installations.

C. In the event any owner of real property abutting such street shall fail within such forty-five days to perform such excavation work as may be required to install or repair utility service lines or service connections to the property lines, any and all rights of such owner or his successors in interest to make openings, cuts or excavations in such street shall be forfeited for a period of five years from the date of paving or repaving of such street. During the five-year period, no excavation permit shall be issued to open, cut or excavate in such street, unless with the approval of the City Engineer or his/her designee the applicant for a permit can show that it is necessary that the excavation permit be issued. The City Engineer or his/her designee may upon written request grant an excavation moratorium waiver with additional conditions on a public right-of-way permit subject to an excavation moratorium waiver. Excavations approved with an excavation moratorium waiver on streets that had been resurfaced within five years prior to the application for an excavation moratorium waiver shall comply with the following at the discretion of the City Engineer:

1. Where the excavation is one hundred feet or more in length, the applicant shall slurry seal or reconstruct the entire length of the excavation, and the entire width of the street from curb-line to curb-line, or where a raised median is present the applicant shall resurface from the curb-line to the median.

2. Where the excavation is less than one hundred feet in length, the applicant shall reimburse the City a flat fee of six hundred dollars per opening, an amount to be adjusted every year for inflation by resolution of the City Council, due to increased costs associated with long-term street damage.

D. Every City department or official charged with responsibility for any work that may necessitate any opening, cut or excavation in such street, is directed to take appropriate measures to perform such excavation work within the forty-five day period so as to avoid the necessity for making any openings, cuts or excavations in the new pavement in the City streets during such five-year period. (Ord. 1491 § 3 (part), 2015: Ord. 666 § 1, 1968)

A. Any person violating any of the provisions or failing to comply with any of the mandatory requirements of the ordinances of the City, is guilty of a misdemeanor, unless the violation is made an infraction by ordinance.

B. Except in cases where a different punishment is prescribed by any ordinance of the City, any person convicted of a misdemeanor for violation of an ordinance of the City is punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not to exceed six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

C. Any person convicted of an infraction for violation of an ordinance of the City is punishable by:

1. A fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for a first violation;

2. A fine not exceeding two hundred dollars for a second violation of the same ordinance within one year; or

3. A fine not exceeding five hundred dollars for each additional violation of the same ordinance within one year.

D. Each person is guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of any provision of this chapter is committed, continued or permitted by any such person, and he shall be punishable accordingly.

E. In addition to the penalties set out in this chapter, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a public nuisance and may be, by the City, summarily abated as such, and each day such condition continues shall be regarded as a new and separate offense. (Ord. 1491 § 3 (part), 2015: Ord. 978 § 2 (part), 1987)