Amy Golden / agolden@skyhinews.com
With heavy snow falling on Granby, some residents might be wondering what the town’s rules are regarding ice and snow on sidewalks.
Granby town code requires the occupants of premises to clear their own walkways. Businesses and residents have 24 hours after snow has accumulated to do so.
Granby’s code enforcement officer, Rich Carlson, said there were three written snow removal warnings last winter. Due to the new code enforcement program in 2018, most contacts related to snow removal were verbal or courtesy flyers focusing on education.
Per town code, Granby is required to clear its sidewalks as well. Granby’s public works department maintains roughly six sections of sidewalk along Agate Avenue, as well as sidewalks near town hall, the Granby Community Center, the train depot and sections of Sixth Street and Garnet Avenue.
While all sidewalks maintained by the town are plowed at least once after snowfall, Public Works Director Joel Moore said that areas with more traffic, like town hall or the community center, are maintained at a higher level.
“We try to stay on top of it,” he said.
Including Moore, there are five full-time equipment operators and one full-time parks department employee to assist with snow removal Monday-Friday.
Public work’s equipment for road and sidewalk snow removal totals six vehicles, including two dump trucks, a front-end loader and a Polaris Ranger with various plowing attachments.
The department also tries to cut a “courtesy path” along Agate Avenue whenever possible. If there is more than an inch of accumulation on the sidewalks before 6 a.m., the town will plow a path down the sidewalks on both sides of the street.
Moore said they plow before 6 a.m. to ensure it doesn’t interfere with regular business activities. Owners are still responsible for removing any snow the rest of the way to the curb.
Granby’s main street is unique in that it’s the only area in town where snow can be shoveled into the street. For businesses and residents not along Agate, snow can’t be pushed off the owner’s property.
Ice removal is also required by town code. According to Moore, this is less of a challenge for public works because of its regular snow maintenance.
The place Moore sees the worst ice is near the train depot because the walkways don’t see a lot of sunlight, which can lead to significant ice buildup.
“That’s the only location where we really have ice headaches,” Moore said.
Occasionally, public works has to deploy ice-melting equipment in that area.
Though weather can sometimes make the sidewalks slick, for the most part it’s only high traffic sidewalks like the ones near town hall and the community center that need ice melt, Moore said.
When snow or ice isn’t removed in a timely matter by businesses or residences, the first offense is a code violation. The notice gives the business a set amount of time to correct the problem.
If it is not corrected, the owner of the property may be issued a ticket and then either pays the fine or goes through the municipal court process.