Important Notice: This site is no longer being maintained.
Please visit the new Municode site for the latest information.

13.22.002 – Definitions

For the purposes of this Chapter, the following terms, phrases, words, and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. Any term not defined in this Section shall have the meaning ascribed to it in 92 Ill. Adm. Code §530.30, the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/1-1-1 et seq.), the Illinois Telecommunications Municipal Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Act (35 ILCS 635/1 et seq.), the Illinois Telephone Company Act (220 ILCS 65/0.01 et seq.), the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007 (220 ILCS 5/21-100 et seq.) and the Illinois Highway Code, (605 ILCS 5/1-101 et seq.), unless the context clearly requires otherwise. In the event that a term is not defined by this Chapter or the above-cited, said term shall have its common and ordinary meaning.
 

“AASHTO” - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. 

“ANSI” - American National Standards Institute. 

“Applicant” - A person applying for a permit under this Chapter.

“ASTM” - American Society for Testing and Materials.

“Backfill” - The methods or materials for replacing excavated material in a trench or pit.

“Bore” or “Boring” - To excavate an underground cylindrical cavity for the insertion of a pipe or electrical conductor.

“Cable operator” - That term as defined in 47 U.S.C. 522(5).

“Cable service” - That term as defined in 47 U.S.C. 522(6).

“Cable system” - That term as defined in 47 U.S.C. 522(7).

“Carrier Pipe” - The pipe enclosing the liquid, gas or slurry to be transported.

“Casing” - A structural protective enclosure for transmittal devices such as: carrier pipes, electrical conductors, and fiber optic devices.

“City” - The City of St. Charles.

“Clear Zone” - The total roadside border area, starting at the edge of the pavement, available for safe use by errant vehicles. This area may consist of a shoulder, a recoverable slope, a non-recoverable slope, and a clear run-out area. The desired width is dependent upon the traffic volumes and speeds, and on the roadside geometry. Distances are specified in the AASHTO Roadside Design Guide.

“Coating” - Protective wrapping or mastic cover applied to buried pipe for protection against external corrosion.

“Code” - The Municipal Code of the City of St. Charles.

“Conductor” - Wire carrying electrical current.

“Conduit” - A casing or encasement for wires or cables.

“Construction” or “Construct” - The installation, repair, maintenance, placement, alteration, enlargement, demolition, modification or abandonment in place of facilities.

“Cover” - The depth of earth or backfill over buried utility pipe or conductor.

“Crossing Facility” - A facility that crosses one or more right-of-way lines of a right-of-way.

“Disrupt the Right-of-Way” - For the purposes of this Chapter, any work that obstructs the right-of-way or causes a material adverse effect on the use of the right-of-way for its intended use. Such work may include, without limitation, the following: excavating or other cutting; placement (whether temporary or permanent) of materials, equipment, devices, or structures; damage to vegetation; and compaction or loosening of the soil, and shall not include the parking of vehicles or equipment in a manner that does not materially obstruct the flow of traffic on a highway.

“Emergency” - Any immediate maintenance to the facility required for the safety of the public using or in the vicinity of the right-of-way or immediate maintenance required for the health and safety of the general public served by the utility.

“Encasement” - Provision of a protective casing.

“Equipment” - Materials, tools, implements, supplies, and/or other items used to facilitate construction of facilities.

“Excavation” - The making of a hole or cavity by removing material, or laying bare by digging.

“Extra Heavy Pipe” - Pipe meeting ASTM standards for this pipe designation.

“Facility” - All structures, devices, objects, and materials (including, but not limited to, track and rails, wires, ducts, fiber optic cable, antennas, vaults, boxes, equipment enclosures, cabinets, pedestals, poles, conduits, grates, covers, pipes, cables, and appurtenances thereto) located on, over, above, along, upon, under, across, or within rights-of-way under this Chapter. For purposes of this Chapter, the term “facility” shall not include any facility owned or operated by the City.

“Freestanding Facility” - A facility that is not a crossing facility or a parallel facility, such as an antenna, transformer, pump, or meter station.

“Frontage Road” - Roadway, usually parallel, providing access to land adjacent to the highway where it is precluded by control of access to a highway.

“Hazardous Materials” - Any substance or material which, due to its quantity, form, concentration, location, or other characteristics, is determined by the Director of Public Works to pose an unreasonable and imminent risk to the life, health or safety of persons or property or to the ecological balance of the environment, including, but not limited to explosives, radioactive materials, petroleum or petroleum products or gases, poisons, etiology (biological) agents, flammables, corrosives or any substance determined to be hazardous or toxic under any federal or state law, statute or regulation.

“Highway Code” - The Illinois Highway Code, 605 ILCS 5/1-101 et seq., as amended from time to time.

“Highway” - A specific type of right-of-way used for vehicular traffic including rural or urban roads or streets. “Highway” includes all highway land and improvements, including roadways, ditches and embankments, bridges, drainage structures, signs, guardrails, protective structures and appurtenances necessary or convenient for vehicle traffic.

“Holder” - A person or entity that has received authorization to offer or provide cable or video service from the ICC pursuant to the Illinois Cable and Video Competition Law, 220 ILCS 5/21-401.

“IDOT” - Illinois Department of Transportation.

“ICC” - Illinois Commerce Commission.

“Jacking” - Pushing a pipe horizontally under a roadway by mechanical means with or without boring.

“Jetting” - Pushing a pipe through the earth using water under pressure to create a cavity ahead of the pipe.

“Joint Use” - The use of pole lines, trenches or other facilities by two or more utilities.

“J.U.L.I.E.” - The Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators utility notification program.

“Major Intersection” - The intersection of two or more major arterial highways.

“Occupancy” - The presence of facilities on, over or under right-of-way.

“Parallel Facility” - A facility that is generally parallel or longitudinal to the centerline of a right-of-way.

“Parkway” - Any portion of the right-of-way not improved by street or sidewalk.

“Pavement Cut” - The removal of an area of pavement for access to facility or for the construction of a facility.

“Permittee” - That entity to which a permit has been issued pursuant to Sections 13.22.004 and 13.22.005 of this Chapter .

“Practicable” - That which is performable, feasible or possible, rather than that which is simply convenient.

“Pressure” - The internal force acting radially against the walls of a carrier pipe expressed in pounds per square inch gauge (psig).

“Petroleum Products Pipelines” - Pipelines carrying crude or refined liquid petroleum products including, but not limited to, gasoline, distillates, propane, butane, or coal-slurry.

“Prompt” - That which is done within a period of time specified by the City. If no time period is specified, the period shall be thirty (30) days.

“Public Entity” - A legal entity that constitutes or is part of the government, whether at local, state or federal level.

“Restoration” - The repair of a right-of-way, highway, roadway, or other area disrupted by the construction of a facility.

“Right-of-Way” or "Rights-of-Way"- Any street, alley, other land or waterway, dedicated or commonly used for pedestrian or vehicular traffic or other similar purposes, including utility easements, in which the City has the right and authority to authorize, regulate or permit the location of facilities other than those of the City. “Right-of-way” or "Rights-of-way" shall not include any real or personal City property that is not specifically described in the previous two sentences and shall not include City buildings, fixtures and other structures or improvements, regardless of whether they are situated in the right-of-way.

“Roadway” - That part of the highway that includes the pavement and shoulders.

“Sale of Telecommunications at Retail” - The transmitting, supplying, or furnishing of telecommunications and all services rendered in connection therewith for a consideration, other than between a parent corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries or between wholly owned subsidiaries, when the gross charge made by one such corporation to another such corporation is not greater than the gross charge paid to the retailer for their use or consumption and not for sale.

“Security Fund” - That amount of security required pursuant to Section 13.22.010.

“Shoulder” - A width of roadway, adjacent to the pavement, providing lateral support to the pavement edge and providing an area for emergency vehicular stops and storage of snow removed from the pavement.

“Sound Engineering Judgment” - A decision(s) consistent with generally accepted engineering principles, practices and experience.

“Telecommunications” - This term includes, but is not limited to, messages or information transmitted through use of local, toll and wide area telephone service, channel services, telegraph services, teletypewriter service, computer exchange service, private line services, mobile radio services, cellular mobile telecommunications services, stationary two-way radio, paging service and any other form of mobile or portable one-way or two-way communications, and any other transmission of messages or information by electronic or similar means, between or among points by wire, cable, fiber optics, laser, microwave, radio, satellite, or similar facilities. “Private line” means a dedicated non-traffic sensitive service for a single customer that entitles the customer to exclusive or priority use of a communications channel, or a group of such channels, from one or more specified locations to one or more other specified locations. “Telecommunications” shall not include value added services in which computer processing applications are used to act on the form, content, code and protocol of the information for purposes other than transmission. “Telecommunications” shall not include purchase of telecommunications by a telecommunications service provider for use as a component part of the service provided by such provider to the ultimate retail consumer who originates or terminates the end-to-end communications. “Telecommunications” shall not include the provision of cable services through a cable system as defined in the Cable Communications Act of 1984 (47 U.S.C. Sections 521 and following), as now or hereafter amended, or cable or other programming services subject to an open video system fee payable to the City through an open video system as defined in the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission (47 C.F.R. §76.1500 and following), as now or hereafter amended.

“Telecommunications Provider” - Means any person that installs, owns, operates or controls facilities in the right-of-way used or designed to be used to transmit telecommunications in any form.

“Telecommunications Retailer” - Means and includes every person engaged in making sales of telecommunications at retail as defined herein.

“Trench” - A relatively narrow open excavation for the installation of an underground facility.

“Utility” - The individual or entity owning or operating any facility as defined in this Chapter .

“Vent” - A pipe to allow the dissipation into the atmosphere of gases or vapors from an underground casing.

“Video Service” - That term as defined in section 21-201 (v) of the Illinois Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007, 220 ILCS 21-201(v).

“Water Lines” - Pipelines carrying raw or potable water.

“Wet Boring” - Boring using water under pressure at the cutting auger to soften the earth and to provide a sluice for the excavated material.