(Spirit Lake)– With the first major snowfall of the season in the forecast comes a reminder from the city of Spirit Lake on snow removal policies and ordinances.
Code Enforcement Officer Clyde Ihrke reminds property owners it is their responsibility to make sure sidewalks are clear of snow and ice. He says not only could you face a liability issue by not doing that, but you could also be getting a little something from the city…
“Yeah, you could. You could get a certified letter from the city and that’s never any fun. People get a little upset with that, but they have 18 hours to get it cleared off once a snow event ends, and then if they don’t do that then we could send them that certified letter and there could be a possibility of a municipal infraction.”
Ihrke says the same pretty much holds true in the city’s downtown area…
“On a big snow event when there’s two inches or more, the downtown district, the city may clear those to put it into the windrow that goes in the middle of the street that a lot of people see a lot of times. If they can get that off their sidewalk, the city is going to do some of that if there’s two inches or more, but ultimately it’s the responsibility of that property owner that has that sidewalk.”
And when it comes to removing snow from driveways and sidewalks, Ihrke says it cannot be place on streets or rights-of-way.
He adds that when it comes to plowing, the snow emergency routes take the priority…
“23rd Street, number one going all the way out to the hospital; there’s a few other ones. Keokuk Avenue so that we can get our snowplows out first, some of the different areas. Yeah, we’ve got a map of that at city hall.”
Ihrke also reminds owners of snowmobiles, ATV’s and ORV’s that they may only be operated on city streets and not on private property.
