Each winter in New England brings its own set of challenges. While state and town crews work tirelessly to keep the roadways clear, this year’s heavy snowfall highlighted a significant gap in our snow removal program. Clearance of sidewalks and curb cuts has been uneven at best, leading to dangerous conditions for elderly and disabled residents long after snowstorms have passed.
Improperly cleared sidewalks create very real hazards for our elderly and disabled neighbors. Icy, uneven surfaces create dangerous conditions for everyone, especially for physically vulnerable residents. It was a common site in February to see people abandon the sidewalks entirely to walk on icy street shoulders. This is especially concerning in Windsor Center, where the town has sited public housing specifically for pedestrian access to the Center’s services and businesses. We place these residents here with the promise of a walkable community, but uncleared paths effectively trap them or force them into harm’s way.
This is the consequence of a complicated distribution of responsibility. Unlike road clearance, where the town takes full responsibility for snow removal and the police rigorously enforce a proactive parking ban, responsibility for sidewalk snow removal is diffuse. The relevant ordinance states that sidewalks on private property must be cleared within twelve hours of a snowfall. The Police Department can issue a fine for each day the sidewalk is not cleared, or Public Works can remove the snow themselves and bill the property owner for the cost. Failure to pay can even result in a lien on the property. The same is true for clearance of fire hydrants on private property.
In practice, however, consistent enforcement of this ordinance is difficult to maintain. It’s not always clear where the town’s responsibility ends and the property owner’s begins. Uniform enforcement would undoubtedly require additional resources to inspect relevant infrastructure and issue fines. The existing ordinances also assume every property owner is physically or financially capable of clearing their frontage, which is not always true. Neighbors help each other in isolated acts of kindness, but that can only go so far towards uniform clearance of transportation infrastructure, and any group organizing snow clearance volunteers faces the challenge of assuming the property owner’s liability in the event of an accident or fall.
The result is that pedestrian infrastructure remained inaccessible for months this winter. The curb cuts on Center Street, the very core of Windsor’s transportation-oriented development district, remained impassable to disabled residents until March 11th. After three days of unseasonably warm weather the accumulated ice finally melted and the sidewalks became ADA-accessible for the first time in almost two months.
These are growing pains. Windsor Center is gradually changing into a genuinely pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, to the benefit of local businesses and all Windsor residents. The neighborhood is attracting residents who, for a variety of reasons, may not want to (or be able to) drive a car. The existing systems for sidewalk snow removal are not up to the task, and we need to adapt. One way or another, we need to keep the sidewalks clear in the winter.