§ 62-85. Definitions.

As used in this article, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following words or phrases shall have the following meanings:

Authorized contractor means a person fully registered with the department of public works as meeting all requirements to conduct excavation or construction activity within the public right-of-way or public road.

Applicant means a person submitting all required information necessary for the department of public works to consider issuance of a permit to conduct excavation or construction activity within the public right-of-way or public road.

Business days means Monday through Friday, excluding the following holidays: New Year's Day, Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. Any such holiday that falls on a Saturday shall be observed on the preceding Friday. Any such holiday that falls on a Sunday shall be observed on the following Monday.

Business hours means the time from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time on business days.

Construction means the planning, location, surveying, designing, supervising, inspecting, paving, striping, modifying, grading, relocating, fixing, and the actual installation of a utility facility within the public road or public right-of-way.

County means the unincorporated areas of Fulton County, Georgia, and any division, department, agency, authority, instrumentality, or branch thereof, or the county governing authority, that is, the board of commissioners, county commissioner, county manager, director of public works or other county officers in charge of the roads, bridges, and revenues of the county.

Damage means any impact or exposure that results in the need to repair a utility facility due to the weakening or the partial or complete destruction of the facility including, but not limited to, the protective coating, lateral support, cathodic protection, or the housing for the line, device, or facility.

Director or director of public works means the county's director of public works or designee or authorized representative, and the department of public works

Emergency means a sudden or unforeseen occurrence involving a clear and imminent danger to life, health, or property; the interruption of utility services; or repairs to transportation facilities that require immediate action.

Emergency notice means a communication to the utilities protection center to alert the involved facility owners or operators of the need to excavate due to an emergency that requires immediate excavation.

Excavating means any operation by which the level or grade of land is changed or earth, rock, or other material below existing grade is moved and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, augering, scraping, directional boring, and pile driving. Such term, however, does not include routine road surface scraping maintenance. "Excavating" shall not mean routine roadway maintenance activities carried out by employees of the Georgia Department of Transportation and the county department of public works, acting within the scope of their employment, provided such activities occur entirely within the right-of-way of a public road, street, or highway of the state are carried out with reasonable care so as to protect any utility facilities placed in the right-of-way by permit are carried out within the limits of any original excavation on the traveled way, shoulders, or drainage features of a public road, street, or highway, and do not exceed 18 inches in depth below the grade existing prior to such activities and, if involving the replacement of existing structures, replace such structures in their previous locations and at their previous depth.

Excavator means any person engaged in excavating as defined in this section.

Extraordinary circumstances means circumstances other than normal operating conditions which exist and make it impractical or impossible for a facility owner or operator to comply with the provisions of this chapter. Such extraordinary circumstances may include, but shall not be limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, ice and snow, and acts of God.

Governing authority means Fulton County ("county"), its board of commissioners, and where delegated by the board of commissioners, the directors of the county's department of public works, and the county's police department.

Permit means an authorization which grants permission to conduct specific regulated activities on, in, over, under or within the public right-of-way, and which is subject to the conditions set forth in this article and the permit document.

Permittee means any person who is issued a valid permit by the county public works director or his designee.

Person means an individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, association, municipality, political subdivision, state, or other governmental unit, authority, department, agency, or a corporation and shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee, employee, agent, or personal representative thereof.

Private road means a privately owned road or way, including any bridge thereon, which is only open for the benefit of one or more individuals and not for the general public. This term also means a road which lies on privately owned land.

Protective devices means cones, flashing light signals, and similar devices or combinations thereof, together with necessary appurtenances, to be placed or in operation at a work site and which comply with the safety standards determined by the department as being adequate at that time for the protection of traffic.

Public road means a highway, road, street, avenue, toll road, tollway, drive, detour, or other way open to the public and intended or used for its enjoyment and for the passage of vehicles in the county, including but not limited to the following public rights, structures, sidewalks, facilities, and appurtenances incidental to the construction, maintenance, and enjoyment of such rights-of-way: (a) Surface, shoulders, and sides; (b) bridges; (c) causeways; (d) viaducts; (e) overpasses; (f) underpasses; (g) railroad grade crossings; (h) tunnels; (i) signs, signals, markings, or other traffic control devices; (j) wayside parks; (k) parking facilities; (l) drainage ditches; (m) canals and culverts; and (n) scenic easements and easements of light, air, view, and access.

Public or private property means the right-of-way of any road or highway.

Public right-of-way means generally property or any interest therein, whether or not in the form of a strip, which is acquired for or devoted to a public road.

Residential area means adjacent property along a public road or public right-of-way that is being used primarily for residential purposes.

Scenic easement means a servitude devised to permit land to remain in private ownership for its normal agricultural, residential, or other use consistent with public road purposes, but at the same time placing a control over the future uses of the area to maintain its scenic landscape, sightly, or safety values for the public road which the land adjoins.

Sidewalk means that portion of a street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a railway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for use by pedestrians.

Utility means any publicly, privately, or cooperatively owned line, facility, or system for producing, transmitting, or distributing communications, power, electricity, light, heat, gas, oil products, water, steam, clay, waste, stormwater not connected with highway drainage, and other similar services and commodities, including publicly owned fire and police traffic signals and street lighting systems, which directly or indirectly serve the public. This term also means a person, municipal corporation, county, state agency, or public authority which owns, manages or operate a utility as defined in this paragraph.

Utility facility owner or operator means any person or entity who owns, operates, or controls the operation of a utility facility, as defined in this article.

Utilities protection center or center means the corporation or other organization formed by facility owners or operators to provide a joint telephone number notification service for the purpose of receiving advance notification from persons planning to blast or excavate and distributing such notifications to its affected facility owner or operator members.

Utility facility means an underground or submerged conductor, pipe, or structure used in providing electric or communications service, or an underground or submerged pipe used in carrying, providing, or gathering gas, oil or oil products, sewage, wastewater, storm drainage, water or other liquids, and appurtenances thereto. This does not include utility facilities owned by a homeowner for service at the homeowner's residence.

(Res. No. 02-0264, 2-20-02)