Construction companies and civil fees

December 19, 2005 7:58 AM

Do large construction companies have to pay (the city, I guess) when they block off a lane of a city street with jersey barriers during construction? I'm sure this varies by locale, but is it a nominal fee or something that more substantially compensates the locality for inconvenience?
posted by OmieWise to law & government (6 comments total)

I'm working for an engineering firm that occasionally has to block traffic to drill boreholes and such. It costs fifty bucks for a one-day permit in at least one municipality we work in.
posted by solid-one-love at 8:02 AM on December 19, 2005

Very often, the work that is being done is work for the city itself. Work on roadways or on underground utilities is done for the city or for the state (depending on the status of the road) or for both, and there would not be any point in seeking compensation.

None of the licensing fees mentioned by SOL would provide compensation for the inconvenience to citizens.
posted by yclipse at 8:15 AM on December 19, 2005

When work on a condo development or some other building needs to infringe upon city owned land (including sidewalks, easements, or other rights-of-way), the developer will usually have to compensate the city. Usually, from what I've seen, that compensation comes in the form of improving city land, if applicable, or essentially paying rent. Also, if parking or other city services are being disrupted, the city will require either payment or accommodation. Those rules usually go out the window if it's not a private development, but a public or pseudo-public construction project that was lured to the area, like a stadium or museum, in which case the municipality bends over backwards to get the project done.
posted by loquax at 8:32 AM on December 19, 2005

I know that here in Montreal that they must at the very least pay the daily parking meter rate of any meters that can't be accessed during construction. I don't know if they have to pay additional fees the blocking the road itself.
posted by furtive at 9:19 AM on December 19, 2005

Its hard to say who even knows what all permits are required for any job.

I was in a restaurant in NYC at lunch time and there was a birthday party of city office workers. The road construction outside was deafening. One lady gets up and says "I'll be right back." She walks over to the foreman, asks to see his paperwork. They talk. He signals the workers to stop. They all sit down for about 2 hours, while the woman's party ate, and resume as she signals them upon leaving.

"They don't have all of the required permits," she said upon returning to her table.
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:27 AM on December 19, 2005

Here are some fees for NYC. When I was working for contractors there we would also have to rebuild the sidewalk to "city standard" (and anything non standard was a real pain in the arse to get permission for) and get special permissions to shut down blocks for major crane work.
posted by jamesonandwater at 12:54 PM on December 19, 2005