Contractor means any person including a subcontractor who acts as or for a property owner or permit holder, public or private, or any person engaged in excavation activity. Excavate or Excavation means the movement or removal of earth using mechanized equipment or blasting, and includes augering, backfilling, digging, ditching, drilling, grading, plowing, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching and tunneling or either of them. Hazardous to the Public within the meaning of Section 11-132 relating to concentration of natural gas, and the reporting requirement thereunder, the phrase means any condition which may cause an interruption of essential services and, in addition, may result in death or injury to persons or property due to destruction of, disruption of, or damage to an underground piping system. Permittee (Permit Holder) means the actual person to whom a permit is issued under the provisions of the County Building Code or Road Ordinance, or both, the term also means and includes, as being directly accountable under the terms of this Ordinance, the contractor, builder, developer, excavator, or other person who engages in excavation work covered by this Ordinance. Person means any individual, partnership, association, corporation and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof. Utilities means any person, firm, or corporation which furnishes or transports by means of an underground conduit any of the materials or services as defined under the term "utility line(s)." Utility Line(s) means any underground conduits and its related facilities including pipe or cable, by which there is furnished or transported any of the following materials or services: Flammable, natural, toxic, or corrosive gas; Petroleum, petroleum products, and hazardous liquids; Electricity; or Communications.

Utility service protection center means the "one call concept" Center established by utility companies doing business in Prince George's County, Maryland, for the purpose of expediting and simplifying information requests concerning field site identification of underground utilities for excavators, contractors, builders, developers, permittees and other persons who are to engage in excavation activities under the provisions of this Ordinance. The membership of the Center consists of the following: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland, Potomac Electric Power Company, Washington Gas Light Company and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. The membership of the Center does not include the following: The City of Bowie, Maryland, providing municipal water and sewer service, and the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Incorporated. It is the essential function of the Center to promptly notify the utility(ies) concerned so that it, or they, shall individually and directly respond to the permittee with the required information under this Ordinance.

The County Council finds that there exists within the County thousands of miles of underground utility lines; and that many more are laid throughout the County each year. In addition, an equally large number of construction and excavation projects are initiated on public and private spaces, such as: road construction, erection of buildings and developments, repairs and relocation of overhead utility line poles, site grading, installation of road signs and other instances. The Council further finds that with greater congestion, the present trend in community planning and development is directed toward the installation of all types of utility services beneath the ground. These factors in combination result in the frequent exposure of existing underground utility lines to breaks or rupturing in the underground conduits and related facilities including pipe or cable. The Council further finds and declares that as a result of its inquiry into the substantial numbers of breaks or rupturing to utility lines, and the causes therefor, that there exists a serious threat to human life and property which demands immediate legislative action, and that it is in the clear public interest to prescribe certain remedial measures so as to prevent the interruption of vital utility services necessary to communications, the furnishing of gas and electricity, and water and sewer services; and more particularly to prevent the ignition and explosion of natural gas.

Notwithstanding any of the penalty provisions of said Subtitles 4, 11, and 23 of the Prince George's County Code of Ordinances and Resolutions, 1967 Edition, as amended, including the general penalty provisions of Subtitle 1 thereof, it is hereby ordained that each violation hereof shall, upon conviction, be punishable by a fine or penalty not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) for any single violation or imprisonment for not more than six (6) months. Each day any violation of any provision of this Division continues shall constitute a separate offense.

The general administration and enforcement of this Division shall be under the respective direction of the Director, Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement, Director of Public Works, and the County Fire Chief.