Shovel your walk or pay a $750 fine?
Letting the snow pile up on your sidewalk could be costly -- in theory.
Those who sit idly by while the others gamble on their cardiac health probably won't get slapped with a $750 fine, but an increasing number of towns do have ordinances on the books requiring residents to shovel their own sidewalks.
Barrington's ordinance requiring residents to clear their sidewalks after a snowstorm dates back to 1973. Violators can be fined $750, but Public Works Director John Heinz said he can't recall anyone ever having to pay.
Yet some ordinances, like the one in Wheeling, mean business. While most towns, including Algonquin, McHenry and Hanover Park, give a 24-hour window, residents in Wheeling have until 10 a.m. on the morning after a snowfall to clear their sidewalks.
And if snow and ice prove too difficult to remove, using sand, salt or another melting agent is a must.
Still, Wheeling police aren't out patrolling neighborhoods for snow-jammed sidewalks.
The vast majority of communities enforce their shoveling ordinances on a complaint-basis only.
Des Plaines is working to crack down on shoveling scofflaws by clarifying its ordinance.
For now, city residents by law must clear sidewalks of "debris" or face a fine of up to $750.
City officials want to clarify the law to include snow. The issue is winding its way through committee with a proposal that would impose lower fines on property owners. Under the proposal, failure to shovel your sidewalk could cost you $50.
City Attorney David Wiltse said the city has always considered "snow" to be debris under its law, but residents aren't always clear on that.
"Some people have said, 'I don't see that in the code,'" Wiltse said.
He could give no estimate on how many tickets have been doled out to people who don't shovel the sidewalk.
"Tickets only are a last resort," he said.
In January, aldermen approved a new law that imposes $250 fines on those who pile snow onto handicapped parking spaces. Spaces on public and private property are affected.
Most suburbs also have a separate law in place to prevent streets from looking like mogul ski slopes.
These ordinances ban residents and businesses from plowing snow onto streets, which can become a safety hazard, said Hanover Park Public Works Director Howard Killian.
"The snow can easily leave the street slippery for the driving public," he said, "especially when you're driving along on a clean street and then there's that unexpected patch of ice."
Geneva also prohibits residents from plowing snow onto a street.
"One, it's not safe, and two, it just messed up a job our guys just spent hours doing," said Geneva Building Commissioner Chuck Lencioni.
Schaumburg can impose a $500 fine, though it never has before. When the village gets complaints -- usually a handful each winter -- it issues violation warnings.
Most people didn't realize they were breaking the law, said Mary Passaglia, assistant code compliance supervisor.
"Usually it resolves itself," she said. "To go forth with a fine, you need a complaining witness who's willing to take it that far. I hope we'd never have to go to that extent."