DEARBORN – A long and grueling winter has forced the City of Dearborn to buckle down on enforcing policies for residents and business owners as snow continues to pile up on street, sidewalks and parking lots. 

At the last few city council meetings, concerns were addressed regarding business owners who are shoveling snow off of their parking lots and onto sidewalks, making it difficult for pedestrians to walk on the pathways or wait for transportation near a bus stop. 

This week, the city’s Department of Public Information issued a press release stating that businesses are responsible for moving snow from public sidewalks that are adjacent to their properties. The city says that failure to do so could result in legal action or other forms of penalties including a ticket citation.

Not all businesses are responsible for moving their snow, however. Businesses under the East Dearborn Downtown Development Authority and the West Dearborn Downtown Development authority both have contract snow removal services. 

But for other businesses, mounting snow has become an increasing problem. With a record amount of snow fall accumulating this winter and temperatures generally staying below freezing, snow has rarely been able to thaw in the metro Detroit region. Large piles of snow have accumulated all over public properties. The city says that they are aware that it has become increasingly difficult to get rid of the accumulating snow, but they are only asking that pathways stay clear.   

“We’ve been engaged in an educational campaign with business owners. Up until this point we have mostly issued warnings because of the unique nature of this season where the snow has become a problem,” says Mary Laundroche, the Director of the Department of Public Information. 

City inspectors will be on the lookout for offenses in coming weeks. They are aiming to keep focus on compliance rather than enforcement. According to the city code in chapter 13, article 3, business owners are responsible for keeping sidewalks adjacent to their properties cleared. Violations of this article will be punishable by a fine of not less than $50.00 for each offense.

The city could also use its best judgment to clear out sidewalks if a business owner doesn’t comply in time. The business will be expected to pay an additional fine for the snow removal service. The city has conducted similar practices during the summer season, when property owners have failed to cut their grass.

The Dearborn Police Department has also been issuing tickets to residents who leave their cars parked on the streets during a snow emergency. The reason behind this enforcement is allowing city plow trucks to have a clear pathway when driving through neighborhood streets.

Usually, a snow emergency is declared with a 12-24 hour notice period. For its recent snow emergencies, the city has sent out messages via the media, Facebook, Twitter, the city website and CDTV. The police department’s Nixle text message alert system, which reaches over 7,000 phone numbers, distributes snow emergency notifications. Emergency sirens are also activated at the beginning of a snow emergency.

But despite all the notifications and alerts sent to residents, an alarming number of citations continue to be issued. The Arab American News last reported that 2,841 tickets had been issued through the snowstorm that ended on January 6.

Since then, the city has declared several more overnight snow emergencies that has boosted the total to 4,602 citations.

On the snow emergency dated January 28, 287 tickets were issued. One week later, another snow emergency on February 5 resulted in 539 more citations. During the snow emergency on February 18, a whopping 758 citations were issued. On March 2nd, another snow storm resulted in citations for 189 vehicles. 

These numbers do not include the latest snow emergency on March 12. 

Residents who are issued a ticket have three days to pay off a fine of $40. After that, the ticket increases to $80. The city stands to make anywhere between $184,080 to $368,160 off of these citations this winter.

The city has heard numerous complaints from households with multiple vehicles who don’t have any room to park on their driveways or in their garages. The mayor’s office is currently working out a plan with the Department of Public Works to offer residents public parking spots during snow emergencies in the future.