UPDATED: March 1, 2018 at 2:51 p.m.

Syracuse’s government is one step closer to having a solution to one of the major issues of the winter — snow-covered sidewalks.

Officials said the city has narrowed down the possible implementation of new snow removal options to three plans: full snow removal paid for by fees, snow removal in “priority areas” or an improvement of snow removal enforcement using existing laws, Syracuse.com reported on Tuesday.

The Common Council aims to have legislation for sidewalk snow removal on the table by the spring, Syracuse.com reported. Fees for municipal snow removal, though, would have to wait to be implemented until next year’s budget goes into effect this summer.

Syracuse is one of the snowiest cities in the United States. More than 100 inches of snow has already fallen this winter. A fee would need to be implemented for the city to assume responsibility of plowing snowy sidewalks, Syracuse.com reported.

In a previous interview with The Daily Orange, Common Councilor At-Large Khalid Bey said he and council President Helen Hudson traveled to Rochester to see how the municipality removed snow from its sidewalks. With an average annual fee of $35 per home, Rochester’s city government plows sidewalks for its residents. A Syracuse.com report gave an early fee estimate of about $40 to $75 per quarter in city taxes for sidewalk clearing and maintenance in Syracuse.

Syracuse has 586 miles of sidewalks, Syracuse.com reported. Current city ordinance requires residents to clear sidewalks surrounding their homes by 6 p.m. the day after an accumulation of ice or snow. Snow plows can be fined more than $100 if they plow snow into the public’s right of way or onto sidewalks. Syracuse.com reported, though, that the law hasn’t been enforced since its creation in 2015.

Jeremy Robinson, the new commissioner of Syracuse’s department of public works, said the department will work with the Syracuse Police Department to better enforce current ordinance, in a previous interview with The Daily Orange.

“We are definitely going to try to enforce that. We are going to work hand in hand with SPD, and hopefully citizens of Syracuse will understand that,” Robinson said at the time.

The “priority area” option would require the city to choose specific areas for snow removal, in which city property owners would pay for the work, Syracuse.com reported. The city would use data collected by the Innovation Team to determine which areas to plow, including sidewalks near bus stops, schools and places with heavy pedestrian traffic, according to Syracuse.com.

Walsh reaffirmed his position on snow safety last month, making it one of his first initiatives as mayor. He and the Innovation Team, an independent city group that takes community comment to improve government processes, hosted a “Snow Safety Summit” earlier this month. The summit functioned as a way to get community input on how the city should handle snow-covered sidewalks and other snow-related problems.

“With the city leading the way, it’s time for all of us to pull together and improve our response to dangerous snow conditions,” Walsh said in a January press release. “That begins today and will continue from this day forward.”

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, the timeline for sidewalk snow removal ideas in the city of Syracuse was unclear in the headline.

Published on February 27, 2018 at 9:02 pm

Contact Kennedy: krose100@syr.edu | @KennedyRose001