SWAMPSCOTT — Spring’s warmth has finally made an appearance on the North Shore, but later this month at Town Meeting, winter snow removal will be a major topic of discussion.
Town Meeting members will be asked to approve a snow removal bylaw, a citizen’s petition that, if approved, would require property owners to clear snow and ice from their sidewalks following a storm.
Officials say the bylaw, proposed by Swampscott resident Cheryl Barker, a member of For the Love of Swampscott, is intended to improve pedestrian safety.
Barker said she’s been concerned for children walking to school for many years. She lived a few streets from the middle school and would witness close calls where children were climbing over and sliding off snow banks at corners, and traipsing through unshoveled sidewalks or out in narrow streets after snowstorms.
Barker said she witnessed a grandmother slip in early December while the woman was walking her grandchild to elementary school, just barely off of the school property.
“After I saw the woman slip, I headed directly to the (Swampscott) Police Department and the Town Hall to find out what our town bylaws were regarding snow and ice removal, ” Barker wrote in an email. “After all, that woman could have been anyone.”
Barker said she learned there wasn’t a town bylaw for sidewalk snow removal, which prompted her to file a citizen’s petition.
“It is our goal to make this a partnership with the town to ensure a safe route to school for all children and safe walkways for everyone, regardless of the season,” she wrote.
Residential property owners would be required to clear snow within street limits within the 24 hours that it has fallen. Commercial property owners and/or tenants would be required to remove snow within 12 hours, according to the Town Meeting warrant.
Snow removed from one’s property cannot be placed in any way, street or road to which the public has access. Ice must be removed or treated with sand or sand mix on all sidewalks in public ways, the warrant reads.
Violators would be given a written warning for a first offense, and would then be fined $50 for a second offense and $100 for successive offenses, not to exceed a maximum of $350 in fines per winter season, which is from Oct. 1 to April 30.
The bylaw will be enforced by the Swampscott Police, Board of Selectmen and Department of Public Works (DPW).
“The purpose of this bylaw is to encourage owners of commercial and residential property to remove snow, ice and slush from abutting sidewalks so that sidewalks throughout town are safe and reasonably accessible by pedestrians, especially by elderly persons, disabled persons and persons and students walking to/from school,” the warrant article reads.
“This bylaw will be enforced with fines for violations. The town will work with obligated persons who are physically and/or financially unable to perform these bylaw obligations, through local assistance programs/volunteer networks and reasonable town arrangement.”
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said a similar citizen’s petition was debated at Town Meeting in 2008, which would have required snow removal on public and private sidewalks. He said concerns were raised about hardship, which pertained to how some people, such as elderly individuals, may not be able to clear their sidewalks.
“(We may) want to have some waivers and some programs that would help ensure this requirement wouldn’t be intended to penalize some folks who would be unable to clear their sidewalks because of physical limitations,” he said.
Fitzgerald said if someone was handicapped, for example, and the bylaw was passed, that person would not be fined for being unable to clear their sidewalks. He said the town would work with civic- and faith-based groups and other organizations to see if they could assist.
Fitzgerald said a snow removal bylaw is not meant to be punitive.
“What we’re trying to do is strike a balance,” Fitzgerald said. “We really want folks to help support efforts to keep Swampscott safe … Whatever we can do to ensure that our sidewalks and our neighborhoods are safe, I think we should take reasonable steps to promote that.”
