(a)   It shall be unlawful for any unauthorized person, firm or corporation to remove, destroy or cut, or encumber any sidewalk, curb, gutter or any concrete pavement or improved surface of any street, alley, or traveled way or to make any opening or excavation therein, or to lay any pipes, conduits or wires therein, or to set any poles or other structures thereon, in the city, unless and until a permit shall have been issued by the city clerk authorizing any such work. Such permit shall be issued upon application to the city showing the necessity for such work and the nature of the work proposed to be done and upon the approval thereof by the city manager or director of public works.

(b)   Any permit required under this section may be issued as a part of any building, plumbing, sidewalk or other permit required. No permit shall be required in the case of any utility company doing business in the city under a valid franchise authorizing such company to use the streets and public ways of the city in the course of its business. Any such permit shall be issued without payment of additional fees or charges except as may otherwise be provided by the laws of the city.

(Code 1962, 18-201; Code 1985)

Any permit issued for making any opening or excavation in any street or alley, including the parking and sidewalks therein, shall specify the location of such opening, the approximate depth and area of the authorized excavation or cutting and the curb, gutter, sidewalk, pavement or other improvement to be cut or removed and rebuilt or replaced by the permittee within a period to be limited by such permit. No excavation shall be authorized or made in any street or alley within six feet of a water pipe while the ground is frozen. The permit where possible shall give the approximate location of all utility pipes and structures at the location of the authorized excavation. In all cases where practicable the permit may require all or any portion of the work authorized to be done without any excavation or cutting or removal of any sidewalk, curb or pavement. All such excavations shall not be left open longer than necessary to complete the work and upon completion thereof, the permit shall be so endorsed and filed with the city clerk who shall report the same to the director of public works for his or her approval.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-202; Code 1985)

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to leave any excavation open or uncovered, or to leave any building materials, vehicles or like obstructions in or on any street, alley, sidewalk or public way in the city during the course of any improvement unless the same be guarded at all times by barricades or barriers constructed in accordance with the specifications and requirements of the Kansas Department of Transportation, and in the nighttime, unless any such work or obstruction be guarded with red lanterns or lights sufficient in number and so placed as to warn and guard vehicles and passers-by from injury or danger. All such lights shall be lighted before dark and left lighted during the nighttime. It shall be the duty of any officer or employee of the city having charge of any such work for the city to comply with the provisions of this section and the laws of Kansas pertaining thereto and to maintain the required barricades, signs and lights as in the case of other persons. The city manager is authorized to direct the placing of any barricades, warning or detour signs or lights required by law, and said officer is authorized, if the public safety requires it, to close off the public streets or sidewalks or any portion thereof to prevent the use of the same during the progress of any work.

(K.S.A. 68-2101:2107; Code 1962, 18-203)

In all cases excavations and openings in any street shall be backfilled as nearly as possible to restore the ground and sub-grade of any improvement to the original conditions and specifications thereof and as may be specified in the permit or provided hereinafter.

(1)   In the case of backfilling openings in unimproved streets or alleys, the excavation shall be filled with only fine earth having a moisture content of from 15% to 20% and no wet spongy material shall be used, and no rocks or lumps of earth shall be used in the backfilling, unless they are well bedded in fine earth. The filling shall be thoroughly hand-tamped in three inch layers or machine-tamped in six inch layers until such excavation is completely backfilled. Each layer of filling shall be tamped until such layer is solid and firm, so that when the excavation is completely filled the surface of the street, avenue or alley will be in the same condition in every respect as to solidity, firmness and appearance that it was before the excavation was made.

(2)   In the case of any openings or excavations required by cutting of any street improved by concrete or other permanent pavement, the city reserves the right to cut any such pavement and to restore or replace the pavement in accordance with the original specifications thereof and to require the payment of a fee to the city for the cost thereof equal to an estimate of the cost of labor, materials and equipment required to cut or remove such pavement and to restore the same to its original condition.

(3)   The city manager may prepare standards, plans and specifications for the cutting and restoration of pavements and the making of backfills which may be a part of the conditions of any permit issued for such purposes.

(K.S.A. 12-648; Code 1962, 18-204)

(a)   The owner of any lot or trace of land abutting on any street may cut the curb adjacent thereto in accordance with the permit and construct a driveway or drive-in entrance from the curb line to the lot line.

(1)   The curb and gutter shall be cut and removed to the nearest joint and the spacing material removed.

(2)   A curb return shall be constructed on a six feet radius, and the entrance opened in the curb shall be not less than 20 feet nor more than 40 feet wide and the driveway shall be constructed from the other line of the gutter to the lot line in accordance with standard plans and specifications to be furnished by the city to the permit holder in the form of a drawing for the purpose.

(3)   That portion of the driveway crossing any sidewalk, or that portion of the street reserved for a sidewalk, shall be constructed not less than six inches thick in the case of entrances to residences, and seven inches thick in the case of commercial or business driveways, reinforced with cold drawn wire mesh weighing not less than 44 pounds per 100 square feet, and spaced six inches each way, and laid two inches below the surface.

(4)   All such driveways and entrances shall be constructed in such manner as not to change the gutter or sidewalk grades when the same shall extend across any sidewalk or gutter grade theretofore established.

(5)   The concrete for all driveways and entrances must be of a quality to withstand a minimum of 3,500 PSI and poured on a base of 661010 wire steel mesh.

(6)   All such work shall be done under the supervision of the city manager or director of public works and subject to their inspection and approval upon completion thereof in accordance with the aforesaid regulations.

(b)   The provisions of the foregoing subsection shall not limit or deny the authority of the city to provide or improve drainage at any private driveway entrances by the construction of culverts thereat as provided by law.

(c)   It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to drive or move any vehicle over or across any curb, sidewalk or street parking not constructed or reconstructed as a driveway entrance, or to fill or obstruct any gutter with building materials, earth fill or otherwise, or to bridge any gutter for the purpose of crossing any curb.

(K.S.A. 12-2301:2305; Code 1962, 18-205; Code 1985)

(a)   All driveway entrances to filling stations, parking lots, and other premises located on corner lots and open to vehicular traffic shall be located and constructed in accordance with the standard plans and specifications governing the cutting and removal of curbs and gutters and construction of driveways provided by the preceding section. No permit issued by the city for any such driveway shall authorize the cutting and removal of any curb or gutter except as may be necessary to provide a separate entrance from each street fronting such premises of maximum width.

(b)   The owner of any such premises or lots shall construct an interior curb of concrete not less than six inches high at the property line of his or her lot or tract of ground which shall extend from the driveway entrances the full length of the sides of the lot abutting such street or the sidewalk portion thereof. An approved substantial wire fence may be maintained in lieu of the interior curb herein required.

(Code 1962, 18-206)

(a)   The permit issued for the construction, reconstruction or remodeling or removal of any building, as provided by ordinance, may authorize the building contractor or other permittee to use or encumber the sidewalks, streets, alleys or public grounds of the city during the course of such work when the necessity is shown in the application. The application for such building permit shall be referred to the city manager, or some officer of the city appointed by him or her for the purpose, for his or her approval before a permit is issued. The permit may authorize the cutting or removal of any sidewalk, curb, or pavement, as provided by ordinance, and the use or encumbering of the streets, alleys, sidewalks or public grounds of the city as may be necessary for the building work.

(b)   On the issuance of any such permit and before the work shall begin, the permit holder shall have constructed a temporary walk along that portion of any street where the sidewalk may be closed to pedestrians and suitable fence, barricades or other structures shall be built and maintained to safeguard the public from injury at such places. In the nighttime, warning lights shall be placed to guide pedestrians along the walk. Upon completion of the work on the abutting lot, the contractor or person in charge shall remove all debris and building material from the sidewalk or public way within 10 days from the completion of the work.

(Code 1962, 18-207)

Hereafter no cellar way or basement entrance shall be constructed from any sidewalk or public way to any basement or building adjacent thereto without an application to and approval of the governing body. All cellar ways or basement entrances which are now or may hereafter be constructed on any sidewalk or public way shall be protected and guarded by good and substantial iron railings and gates and be approved by the city manager. It shall be unlawful for any person to leave unprotected or leave open any cellar or basement door or any hole or opening in any sidewalk in the city or to permit the same to remain or be in an insecure or unsafe condition.

(Code 1962, 18-208)

All excavations, open or uncovered, cellars or basements upon the front or side of any lot or tract of land abutting on any sidewalk, street, or alley or under any sidewalk shall be protected by substantial guard, fence or barricade by the person or persons owning such lots or tracts or having charge of the same so as not to endanger the traveling public.

(Code 1962, 18-209)

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to place or store or to allow to be placed or stored on any sidewalk of the city any implements, tools, boxes, merchandise, goods, crates, cans, corn poppers, peanut roasters, weighing machines, vending devices, show cases or other article obstructing such sidewalk and leaving less than 72 inches of unobstructed walkway, any longer than is reasonably necessary for the loading or unloading of the same by the occupants of building adjacent thereto or their servants or agents. Any such obstruction may be summarily removed by any officer of the city without notice.

(Code 1962, 18-210)

Provisions shall be made for the laying of all lines, pipes, conduits or other utility structures in advance of any street improvements before any street shall be surfaced by any kind of pavement. The city council may by resolution order the owners of the property abutting on any street to be improved to lay all water or gas service pipes or sewers to the back of the curb in any streets where the mains for the same may be therein and to assess the cost thereof as provided by law in the event such service pipes or sewers are not laid by the abutting owner.

(Code 1962, 18-211)

(a)   All lines, pipes, wires, conduits, poles or other structures for the transmission of electric current, natural gas, messages by telephone or telegraph or other utility services shall, in all cases where practicable, be located in the alleys, or easements therefor reserved or provided through any block or tract of land in the city and in such places therein as shall not impede the traveling public or obstruct the open passage through any such alley or place. Where no alley or easement is available for such utility structures, the same may be located in the street between the lot line and the curb line as not to interfere with the use of such portion of the street for sidewalks and the planting of trees or shrubs as otherwise may be provided for.

(b)   In the event that any utility company is operating in the city under a franchise which makes no provision for the payment of any compensation to the city as authorized by law and the franchise does not preclude the payment of any occupation tax, fee or charges by the company to the city, or when any such company is rendering utility services to customers in the city without a franchise or other agreement respecting the use of streets, alleys of public grounds of the city for its utility lines, pipes, poles, wires or structures, such company shall, before making any future excavation therein for laying any pipes, conduits or transmission lines or setting any poles or other structures, secure a permit from the city for any such purpose on application to the city clerk and the approval thereof by the city council. Such permit shall be issued upon a showing that the utility structure will be placed in conformity with this article and upon payment to the city clerk of a fee or fees in the amount of two cents per linear foot of any excavation so required and $2 per pole or other structure set in or affixed to the surface of any street, alley or public ground of the city. All such fees shall be paid into the general operating fund of the city to pay the reasonable cost of enforcement of any provision of this article affecting utility companies.

(K.S.A. 12-848:850; Code 1962, 18-212)

(a)   The owner of any lot or tract of land abutting upon any street or avenue in the city, subject to the conditions of this article, may improve that portion of the street or avenue between the lot line and the curb line therein by planting shade trees, shrubbery or other plant adornment or law improvement commonly called “parking.”

(b)   Trees or shrubbery hereafter planted in any street parking or on private lots adjacent thereto shall be located in accordance with the following regulations:

(1)   No tree or shrubbery shall be planted in any street parking within four feet of any curb or curb line of any block;

(2)   No tree or shrubbery shall be planted within three feet of any sidewalk or the space reserved for a sidewalk, whether within the parking or privately owned lands adjacent to such sidewalk or sidewalk reservation;

(3)   No tree or shrubbery shall be planted in any street parking, the width of which shall be less than 11 feet measured form the curb or curb line to the lot line of abutting privately owned lands;

(4)   In general where there shall be sufficient space within any street parking for the planting of trees or shrubbery, the same shall be planted in a uniform line, and in no event at a greater distance than 12 feet from the property line of adjacent lots subject to the foregoing regulations;

(5)   No tree, hedge or shrubbery shall be planted or cultivated in any street parking which will when fully grown obstruct the vision of drivers of vehicles approaching and about to enter the intersection of any street. Any such tree or planting growing within 20 feet of any intersection measured from the prolongation of lot lines at such intersection may be cut, trimmed or removed in such manner that the same shall not constitute a hazard to drivers at such intersections.

(Code 1962, 18-213)

The city manager is authorized to prepare a plan or plans for the beautification, cultivation and improvement of the parking along any or all streets and avenues of the city and which shall specify therein the species and kinds of trees, shrubbery or plants to be grown and cultivated therein. He or she may employ or appoint an experienced city forester for the purpose as provided by law. All such trees and parking shall be planted, removed, trimmed, protected or otherwise cared for in accordance with such beautification plan. The cost of the planting of any trees in such public grounds shall be paid as provided by law.

(Code 1962, 18-214)

(a)   It shall be the duty of the owners or occupants of all lots fronting on any street parking to cultivate and trim all trees, shrubbery, hedge or other plants located in such street parking or adjacent to any sidewalk or parking to prevent the same from obstructing the passage of vehicles and pedestrians over or along the roadway of any street, avenue or alley or sidewalk in the city, as the case may be, and all trees, shrubbery and other plant growths shall be so trimmed that the branches or any portion thereof shall not overhang any sidewalk, lower than eight feet from the surface thereof, nor lower than 14 feet from the roadway of any street or public way. The city may under the provisions of the preceding sections, trim such trees and growths, or remove any street or sidewalk obstruction, or to remove any dead or decayed limb or branches found to be in a condition hazardous to the traveling public. Any parking, curbing, or shade trees constructed, planted or maintained as an obstruction contrary to the provisions of this article may be condemned by resolution of the city council and ordered to be removed at the expense of the owner or occupant of lots or tracts of ground abutting such parking.

(Code 1962, 18-215)

(a)   It shall be unlawful for any electric power or telephone or telegraph company or for any other person or corporation, to attach or anchor any wires to any tree in the city, or for such persons, companies or corporation to maintain upon any such trees any wires now attached thereto.

(b)   It shall further be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation, except when acting under the authority of the State of Kansas, to cut or trim any trees within the city, without the consent or approval in writing of the owner of such trees, if the same be growing upon private property, or to cut or trim any trees growing upon the streets (parkings) within the city, without the approval of the city manager. The city manager is authorized to issue permits to any utility company or other company or person for the cutting or trimming of trees growing upon streets and public grounds of the city which shall describe the streets and blocks where such cutting is authorized, but no such permit shall relieve the holder of his or her duty to obtain the written permit or approval of the owner of lots or ground abutting upon the parking where such trees are growing. Any permit for the moving of any house or structure along any street in the city shall not authorize the holder thereof to cut or trim any trees without the approval or consent of the owners of such trees as provided by law.

(Code 1962, 18-216)

(a)   It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to drive or move any vehicle or animal upon or over any portion of any street or avenue improved or maintained as parking by the owners or occupants of the premises abutting thereon, or for any unauthorized person to enter upon or cross over the parking and to cut or trim any tree or growth thereon or to dig, remove, disturb or damage any portion of the surface thereof or any tree or plant growing thereon.

(b)   It shall further be unlawful for any person to store, place, stand or leave any kind of vehicle or machinery, or any kind of junk materials or objects of any kind upon any street parking, or that portion between the lot lines and the curb or curb line reserved for such parking whether improved or not. No curb may be removed or any portion of any street or avenue adjacent to the roadway thereof improved or used for the parking of vehicles except as authorized by law.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-217)

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to walk upon, drive on, ride over or across any pavement, sidewalk or other work of improvement in any street, avenue or alley, in the course of construction thereof and before the same shall have been opened for public travel.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-218)

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to place or cause to be placed any bills, dodgers, advertisements, posters, signs or notices or advertising matter of any kind on any tree, telephone, telegraph or light pole, post or fixture in the streets or public ways of the city, or to place or post any such bills, advertisements or posters on any building, fence, or property, adjacent to such streets or public places without the consent of the owner or person in control of such buildings or property. Any such bills or advertisements may be removed by any officer of the city or the owner of such property without notice to the person posting or placing such bills or advertisements.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-219)

It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to place or maintain any electrically charged wire or any barb wire or other sharp metal points on any railing, fence, or posts in or adjacent to any street, alley or sidewalk in the city. Each day’s refusal or neglect to remove any such wire or metal points after notice from the city manager shall constitute a separate offense and punishable as a violation of this article.

(Code 1962, 18-220)

It shall be unlawful for any person to accumulate or burn leaves, trash or other combustibles in or upon any street, alley or public way in the city.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 16-221)

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to deposit or throw any waste oil, fuel oil, kerosene, gasoline or other petroleum products or 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 or alley in the city.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-222)

It shall be unlawful for any person to haul or transport any dirt, sand, rocks or other like building materials in any vehicle so loaded that such materials may escape or spill therefrom on the streets or public ways of the city.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-223)

It shall be unlawful for any unauthorized person willfully to cut, break or remove, or in any manner to displace any curbing, guttering, street crossing marking, streets, avenues or alleys, or the street parking thereof, or interfere or change the grade or drainage thereof, or to tear down or remove any street name sign or street fixture maintained by lawful authority, or to deface or remove any grade mark, stake or other grade point or location in the city.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-224)

It shall be the duty of all officers of the city under the supervision of the city. manager to enforce the provisions of this article and to report violations thereof to the manager, and all city officers shall be authorized to abate all nuisances, encroachments or other obstructions, found or located in any street, avenue, alley or other public ground contrary to the provisions of any city laws or of the laws of Kansas, by removing the same, or by causing such nuisances, encroachments or obstructions to be removed by the owners or occupants of lots or grounds abutting thereon, or by the person placing or maintaining the same, as provided by law. All permanently located or affixed structures encroaching upon or standing in any street, avenue, alley or public way, including the parking thereof, may be abated by an appropriate resolution adopted by the governing body directing the abutting owner, or other person responsible therefor, to remove or abate any such nuisance, encroachment or obstruction within such time as may be reasonable.

(K.S.A. 12-848; Code 1962, 18-225)

It shall be unlawful for any person to deposit or cause to be deposited, dump, sort, scatter or leave any rubbish, stone, wire, earth, ashes, cinders, sawdust, hay, glass, manure, filth, paper, snow, ice, dirt, grass, leaves, construction waste, garbage or other offensive or noxious material in any public street, sidewalk, alley, sanitary or storm sewer or upon any public property or any property of another without the express permission of the owner or occupant thereof.

(Ord. 1234; Code 2006)

Any violation of the provision of this chapter shall be considered an unclassified misdemeanor, with the penalty imposed pursuant to Section 1-116 of the Municipal Code of the City of Hoisington, Kansas.

(Ord. 1234; Code 2006)