Township to Examine Snow Removal Law

The Chatham Township Committee asked Administrator Thomas E. Ciccarone to gather information about which residents voluntarily shovel their sidewalks in the snow.

About 16 percent of homes in the township have sidewalks, and while there is a law requiring businesses to shovel their sidewalks, residents are not required to shovel.

Committee Member Kathy Abbott, who also chairs the Safe Routes to School Committee, said while most people shovel their sidewalks on their own, a few houses especially near schools do not. Students walking to school have to walk in the street instead.

"We put the sidewalk there for safety, and then when it snows they become unsafe," she said.

Committee Member Bailey Brower, Jr. said it was unfair to force homeowners to shovel sidewalks. "Right now if you don't shovel your sidewalk, you have no liability," he said. "If you do shovel your sidewalk and someone falls, you're liable."

Committee Member Kevin Sullivan said he researched the issue and spoke with an attorney about it. "I don't think we want to pass a law that's unenforceable," he said, especially one that forced people to do something most residents did already.

Deputy Mayor Robert Gallop said he did not believe the law was unenforceable, and that he believed the law would target those who did not shovel sidewalks.

"Obviously some people don't shovel them for a good reason," he said, such as a heart condition or physical inability to shovel. In that case, he said, some neighborhood children could get paid to shovel the sidewalk, or some volunteer groups, such as the Boy and Girl Scouts, could organize to shovel those sidewalks.

"We're not in Syracuse, New York," Gallop said. "It doesn't snow every day. We're talking maybe three times a year."

Ciccarone said there are other circumstances the committee was not taking into consideration. When he gets a sidewalk later this year, he said, "Where am I going to put the snow? I can't throw it into the street, and on the other side on my yard, I have a fence."

Janice Coviello and her twin daughters asked the committee to consider a mandatory snow removal ordinance. The two walk to school each day and said they want a clear sidewalk in the snow.

Ciccarone said there might be other routes to get to Chatham High School and Lafayette Avenue School that didn't involve walking along Lafayette Avenue.

"We paid to put the sidewalk on there," Abbott said. "Why would we want the kids to walk on another street without sidewalks?"

At the end of the meeting the committee asked Ciccarone to gather more information about snow removal ordinances in other towns and whether there may be a way to organize communities to get all the sidewalks shoveled without an ordinance.