Virginia Code 56-265.15:1: Exemptions; routine maintenance
Nothing in this chapter shall apply to:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 56-265.15:1
- demolition: means any operation by which a structure or mass of material is wrecked, razed, rendered, moved, or removed by means of any tools, equipment, or discharge of explosives which could damage underground utility lines. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
- Emergency: means a sudden or unexpected occurrence involving a clear and imminent danger, demanding immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss of, or damage to, life, health, property, or essential public services. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
- excavation: means any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced by means of any tools, equipment, or explosives and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, dredging, drilling, augering, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing and driving, wrecking, razing, rendering, moving, or removing any structure or mass of material. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
- Hand digging: means any excavation involving nonmechanized tools or equipment. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
- Notification center: means an organization whose membership is open to all operators of underground facilities located within the notification center's designated service area, which maintains a data base, provided by its member operators, that includes the geographic areas in which its member operators desire transmissions of notices of proposed excavation, and which has the capability to transmit, within one hour of receipt, notices of proposed excavation to member operators by electronic means. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
- Operator: means any person who owns, furnishes or transports materials or services by means of a utility line. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
1. Any hand digging performed by an owner or occupant of a property.
2. The tilling of soil for agricultural purposes.
3. Any excavation done by a railroad when the excavation is made entirely on the land which the railroad owns and on which the railroad operates, provided there is no encroachment on any operator‘s rights-of-way or easements.
4. An excavation or demolition during an emergency, as defined in § 56-265.15, provided all reasonable precaution has been taken to protect the underground utility lines.
In the case of the state highway systems or streets and roads maintained by political subdivisions, officials of the Department of Transportation or the political subdivision where the use of such highways, roads, streets or other public way is impaired by an unforeseen occurrence shall determine the necessity of repair beginning immediately after the occurrence.
5. Any excavation for routine pavement maintenance, including patch type paving or the milling of pavement surfaces, upon the paved portion of any street, road, or highway of the Commonwealth provided that any such excavation does not exceed a depth of twelve inches (0.3 meter).
6. Any excavation for the purpose of mining pursuant to and in accordance with the requirements of a permit issued by the Department of Energy.
7. Any hand digging performed by an operator to locate the operator’s utility lines in response to a notice of excavation from the notification center, provided all reasonable precaution has been taken to protect the underground utility lines.
8. Any installation of a sign that does not involve excavation as defined in § 56-265.15.
1994, c. 890; 1996, c. 79; 2002, c. 841; 2010, cc. 777, 832; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 532.