Snowy sidewalks could become costly for residents

If you’ve been outside over the last few days, you may have noticed those pesky snow covered sidewalks across Michiana, but who’s responsibility is that?

“The owner of the property is responsible for clearing the snow in front of their sidewalks, their business or personal property,” said Randy Wilkerson, Director of Code Enforcement, South Bend.And this includes the bus stop if that happens to be outside your front door. The only areas the city takes care of:

“Downtown south bend takes care of the downtown area and parks department takes care of their parks, and I have a N.E.A.T. crew which is a neighborhood enhancement team, they take care of the sidewalks on the bridges,” said Wilkerson.

And if you don’t…

“The department fines them, it’s a 30 dollar per day fine for each and every time we cite them,” said Wilkerson.

But for good reason according to city officials.

“We try to get the walking areas around the schools so the kids aren’t walking in the street so we actually kind of focus on areas versus driving all over the city responding to complaints. Nobody wants to see a child or an adult get hit by a vehicle because they’re walking the street versus the sidewalk,” said Wilkerson.

Officials say once the city has issued a fine, they do not come back to clean the sidewalk and you can expect more fines if the sidewalk is not cleared of snow once they circle back around.

If the homeowner is disabled, there is a waiver available that can be filled out by clicking here.

For more information on sidewalk regulations during the winter, click here.