It’s almost upon us: the first real snowfall. With 8-12 inches predicted between late Sunday night and Monday’s evening commute, it’s time to rally the shovels, fuel up the snow blower, and check your supplies of sand and salt.
While snow removal is generally one of the most dreaded chores associated with home ownership, it’s a necessity mandated by state law and local ordinance, and cities are getting serious about it. Still, many don’t accept the responsibility: between November 1, 2013 and January 31, 2014, St. Paul residents filed 2,790 complaints for negligence, nearly twice as many as the year before. The 2,168 violations that were reported in Minneapolis during that same timeframe resulted in 741 fines being issued, at a cost of more than $130,000 to Minneapolis property owners, according to city records. This can easily be viewed as a ploy by the city to bolster the coffers; but truly, it’s a question of safety, with 65% of wintertime back injuries directly associated with falling on icy surfaces—and you’re just as likely to fall on your own property as someone else!
The general rule of thumb is to remove snow from public walkways within 24 hours (cities have differing criteria—Woodbury’s ordinance requires snow to be removed within 10 daylight hours, which probably works out to be about the same amount of time). And, even though no one likes the hard, crusty snow pile left behind by the plows, don’t be tempted to throw that snow back into the street. MnDOT reminds us that it's also against state law to dump that, or any, snow onto public streets. Instead, throw it into your yard.
Image courtesy of OSU Special Collections & Archives : Commons (Maud Bohlman shoveling snow Uploaded by russavia) [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons.
Angela Anderson, Realtor, Results Support Services: EMAIL — BIO
Licensed Associate Working with Sharlene Hensrud of RE/MAX Results, and HomesMSP — Sharlene, John, Angela
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