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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 20. Public Utilities And Telecommunications
Agency 5. State Corporation Commission
Chapter 309. Rules for Enforcement of the Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act
11/21/2024

20VAC5-309-165. Operator's responsibilities for abandoned utility lines.

A. Upon receipt of an additional locate request pursuant to § 56-265.24 C of the Code of Virginia, if the operator determines that an abandoned utility line exists, the operator shall provide the status of the utility line to the excavator within 27 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, from the time the excavator makes the locate request. The excavator and operator may negotiate a mutually agreeable time period in excess of 27 hours for the operator to provide such information to the excavator if site conditions prohibit the operator from making such a determination or extraordinary or exigent circumstances exist, as defined in § 56-265.15 of the Code of Virginia. If the site conditions prohibit the operator from making such a determination or extraordinary or exigent circumstances exist, the operator shall directly notify the person who proposes to excavate or demolish and shall, in addition, notify that person of the date and time when the status of the utility line will be determined. The deferral to determine the status of the utility line shall be no longer than 96 hours from 7 a.m. on the next working day following the excavator's additional locate request.

B. The operator shall record and maintain the location information of the abandoned utility line as determined by the operator. Such records need not include abandoned underground electric, telecommunications, cable television, water, and sewer lines connected to a single family dwelling unit.

Statutory Authority

§§ 12.1-13 and 56-265.30 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from Virginia Register Volume 29, Issue 4, eff. October 1, 2012; amended, Virginia Register Volume 40, Issue 16, eff. April 1, 2024.

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