(Spirit Lake)– Officials with the city of Spirit Lake are reminding residents of the city’s snow removal ordinance. Code Enforcement Administrator Clyde Ihrke says he’s been fielding some complaints about sidewalks in both the residential and downtown areas not being shoveled in a timely manner…
“If you have a sidewalk abutting your property, that has to be cleared by that property owner. That is their responsibility according to the city code. So yes, that pertains to all zoning districts, it doesn’t matter where you’re at. The property owner is responsible for taking care of those sidewalks.”
He says you have 18 hours following a snow event to do that. Ihrke says failure to do that means the city will hire a contractor to do it, with the property owner being billed for it. He says the property owner could also be held liable in the event someone slips and falls. Ihrke adds it is illegal to move snow from sidewalks and driveways into streets, alleys or other right-of-ways. Ihrke says it’s also important to keep vehicles off of streets when there’s snow…
“Chances are you’ll get ticketed if that snowplow has to go around them. If it goes around them the police are notified and you could get a ticket on that. It would be a parking fee, a parking fine, is what that would be. So get them off the streets. It makes it a whole lot easier for our snowplow drivers. They don’t have to worry about hitting anything like that and they’re going to get the complete street cleared off, then.
And with more snowmobiles now out there with the snow on the ground, Ihrke has this reminder on the city of Spirit Lake’s ordinances…
“Those motorized vehicles can operate on the roadway. They cannot be in the right-of-way, they cannot be up on that sidewalk area, they have to be on the roadway portion of the road. In the curb area, inside there going toward the houses, they can’t be there. I’ve seen a lot of tracks already with the snow from snowmobiles that are driving up in there. They have to stay on the roadways and they have to follow actual road vehicle laws and things like that.”
Ihrke says they’re also keeping a close eye on ATV’s and other types of utility vehicles. He says be prepared if you get caught operating one of them on a state highway…
“Expect to be ticketed if you get, if you’re driving on those state highways. You can cross those highways anywhere where it’s perpendicular. There’s not certain spots. They used to have it to where there were just certain spots they designate. Now it’s anywhere where it’s perpendicular to get across that highway, you can do that. But you cannot go on that highway except for crossing it like that.”
Ihrke says the city greatly appreciates everyone’s cooperation…
“Our guys are out there a lot; the state crews are out there a lot. They’ve got a lot of roadways to plow. I believe we’ve got, in the city of Spirit Lake, I think it’s 104 miles of traveled roadway that our guys are plowing. Now granted, they do a great job with it, they’re out there, they’re doing it a lot. But anything the property owners can do to make it easier for us and to make it safer for the public, please help us out with that, because, number one, it’s code, it’s the ordinance, it’s the law. Number two, it sure does make it a whole lot easier for our drivers.”
Ihrke adds the city does have certain emergency snow routes that take first priority during plowing operations.
