City Council to Weigh Potential Sidewalk Snow Removal Updates

The Laramie City Council will discuss possible updates to Laramie Municipal Code regarding snow removal from sidewalks during their work session tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

City of Laramie Code Enforcement Inspector Brian Forster said the work session will discuss whether to shorten the amount of time Laramie residents have to get snow off their sidewalks after the snow stops falling.

“Right now there is a 24-hour deadline - after the snow stops you have 24 hours. I would like to get that back to 12 hours,” Forster said.

Forster said the longer the snow is on the sidewalk, the greater the chances people might get injured.

“If somebody doesn’t clear their sidewalk, the more people walk on the sidewalk and stuff like that and it just gets worse over time,” he said.

Forster also said there can be issues with people’s work schedules and often times the 24 hour deadline was not heeded and snow was left on the sidewalks for 36 hours or more.

The meeting will also discuss how to incentivize people to clear their sidewalks.

“I would propose a stiffer penalty,” Forster said. “If we end up doing abatements, with the cost of the abatement, we would add an $100 administrative fee right off the top. And then over a six month period of time, if they continue to ignore the snow removal ordinance, for the second offense it might be a stiffer penalty for $250 for instance and the third offense even stiffer than that.”

Forster said that he, City Manager Janine Jordan and Planning Manager Derek Teini would draft an ordinance based on the guidance of City Council. The draft then would have to go through multiple readings in City Council.