Discussed at the Thursday night ordinance meeting, but not recommended for an ordinance, was a request by a resident that the village create an ordinance that would require residents to shovel sidewalks in front of their homes in 2" of snow or more or be fined. The issue is about child safety. When the snow is on the ground for long periods, children (and adults) tend to walk in the street; with the curvy, hilly, and unlit roads—and add high snow mounds, the potential for a car to hit a pedestrian walking in the street is high. Sidewalks can become slippery if not shoveled.
This ordinance is not out of the ordinary. Many villages and towns have similar ordinances. The state of Illinois does provide a good neighbor law that would exempt a home owner from being liable if someone were to slip and fall on a sidewalk they shoveled, so long as their intent was to clear the sidewalk for others in the spirit of being a good neighbor. Nearby towns such as Gurnee, Des Plaines and Round Lake have ordinances on the books that require sidewalks be shoveled.
The Ordinance committee and others present could not find a viable solution for enforcement of such an ordinance. Citing many obstacles, the PW Director and committee Chair felt that requiring residents to shovel sidewalks would be difficult to enforce, and just as challenging, how to ensure sidewalks are shoveled when residents do not comply. With staff short-handed in the Public Works department, and any contractor hired to shovel sidewalks on behalf of the village would require paying prevailing wage, the committee was just at a loss to come up with a way to make the ordinance enforceable, village-wide.
The recommendation by the committee was that the resident create a committee and begin an awareness campaign. So in the spirit of getting the word out, please be sensitive to the needs of the community this winter and know that when it snows, the kids and others are counting on those sidewalks to be cleared.
Someone reminded me of growing up in Chicago; we just naturally cleared the sidewalks; it was a given. I don't know if we did it because we were required or because we all used the sidewalks and it was just an unwritten law—but we did it. It's like the unwritten but well known sport of clearing out your parking spot and placing a chair in it when your going out—making claim to the spot...it's yours! Do not remove the chair or table or whatever was put there to claim the space! You violators know who you are!
