Road Opening Bylaw

By-Law Requiring a Road Opening Permit to Open, Occupy and Obstruct a Street:
(From The By-Laws of the Inhabitants of the Town of Wilmington Revised, Chapter 5 Sec. 6)

Section 6.  Except as authorized in accordance with this section, no public street shall be excavated, opened, occupied, blocked, obstructed or used in such a manner as to deny full and unobstructed use and access without first obtaining a permit form the Town Manager or from a town officer or department head formally designated by the Town Manager to act in his behalf as granting authority  Such a permit shall specify the time, place, size and use of such opening, occupation, or obstruction and the time within which the street must be restored to good and safe condition and full and unobstructed use, and shall be issued only upon the following conditions:

(a) the recipient of the permit shall maintain from the beginning of twilight, through the whole of every night, over or near the place so excavated, occupied, opened, obstructed or used, and over or near any dirt, gravel or other material taken therefrom or to be used by him, a light or lights sufficient to protect travelers from injury of a number and type to be specified in said permit by the granting authority;

(b) the recipient of the permit shall place and maintain a safe and convenient way for the use of foot-travelers, and a safe and convenient passage for public and vehicular travel around or over such place and as may be further specified in said permit by the granting authority;

(c) the recipient of the permit shall procure at his expense, a sufficient police detail furnished by the Police Department as the granting authority may require in order to insure the reasonably unimpeded flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic;

(d) the recipient of the permit shall deliver up and surrender the permit to the granting authority on or before the expiration time specified in the permit for completion of the aforesaid restoration;

(e) the granting authority shall specify in the permit, or, after the issuance thereof, in writing the kind of rail or fence reasonably required to enclose the place or area so excavated, opened, occupied, obstructed or used, and also the kind of way over or around such place or area and the manner that said way shall be constructed and maintained;

(f) the permit shall require that the restored opening or excavation shall be repaved with a pavement of the same specifications as the original pavement by a contractor or paver approved by the granting authority, and that the work of repaving shall be done in a thoroughly workmanlike manner and shall be subject to the approval of the superintendent of streets;

(g) the recipient of the permit shall pay to the town treasurer whatever sum the superintendent of streets shall expend for labor, materials, equipment, time and other contractual services to restore the street to good and safe condition and full and unobstructed use to the satisfaction of said superintendent, if the recipient fails to complete said restoration to the satisfaction of said superintendent within the time specified therefore in said permit.

In order to insure compliance with the aforesaid conditions the granting authority shall require a bond with sureties satisfactory to him as sufficient to secure the performance of these conditions.

The invalidity of any sub-section or provision of this section shall not invalidate any other sub-section or provision of this section.

Note:  The By-Laws of the Inhabitants of the Town of Wilmington Revised, Chapter 1 Sec. 4 defines "Public Way" as "any highway, town way, private way open for public use, road, bridge, street, avenue, boulevard, roadway, lane, sidewalk, or square."