The public sidewalk in front of your house is almost always yours to clear, and the deadline changes at the city line. Here is what each municipality actually publishes.
Work is carried out by an independent snow removal operator under their own company name and insurance. This site arranges the introduction and clears nothing itself.
| City | Deadline | Trigger | Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | 12 hours after snowfall ceases; overnight snow by 6:00 p.m. the following day | Any snowfall | City clears and charges the owner a minimum of $100 |
| Troy | 24 hours after the snow event ends | Snow over 2 inches deep, plus all ice | Not published |
| Novi | 48 hours after accumulation ends; ice sanded or salted immediately and removed within 48 hours | 2 inches or more | Not published |
| Farmington Hills | Once snowfall ends. “The City does not plow or salt sidewalks.” | Any snowfall | Not published |
| Rochester Hills | Set by city ordinance — not verified for this page | — | Not published |
| Bloomfield Township | No sidewalk snow ordinance found | — | — |
Rochester Hills is left blank deliberately. Its winter page covers roads only, and its code could not be read directly, so no deadline is asserted here. Check with the city before relying on a number from anywhere else.
The strictest deadline in the county, and the only confirmed penalty. Responsibility sits with the abutting property owner, and the city’s remedy is to do the work and bill a minimum of $100. The city also asks, separately, that snow not be shoveled into the road or onto someone else’s property. For context on the road side: Birmingham plows residential streets above 2.5 inches and imposes an automatic parking ban at 4 inches.
Snow over two inches plus all ice must come off the adjacent public sidewalk within 24 hours of the event ending. There is a genuine exemption worth knowing: single and two-family homes on non-major streets are exempt from side and rear-yard sidewalks abutting major thoroughfares — Adams, Beach, Big Beaver, Coolidge, Crooks, Dequindre, Fourteen Mile, John R, Livernois, Long Lake, Maple, Northfield Parkway, Rochester, South Boulevard, Square Lake, Stephenson and Wattles. Code Enforcement handles it.
Sections 21-57 (sidewalks kept free of hazardous conditions) and 21-126 (snow and ice removal timelines). Forty-eight hours after two inches or more, with ice sanded or salted immediately and removed within the same window. Corner lots must also clear the sidewalk ramps. Rear-lot sidewalks are excluded, and single-family homes adjacent to major pathways of six feet or more clear only the front section.
The city states outright that it does not plow or salt sidewalks, which makes it entirely the property owner’s. Its published guidance is to clear snow and ice once snowfall ends. No hour deadline or fine is published.
Two published in this county are worth knowing because they carry towing rather than a warning.
Birmingham imposes an automatic parking ban at 4 inches of accumulation on roadways. Parking during it is a civil infraction and vehicles are towed at the owner’s cost. Residents without driveways and handicap permit holders are exempted.
Bloomfield Township adopted a snow emergency ordinance in February 2006: parking prohibited on publicly maintained streets during a declared emergency, six hours from declaration to move vehicles, and fines up to $100 plus towing. The township runs a hotline for declarations.
A corner lot has two public frontages instead of one, plus the curb ramps in most of these ordinances. That is three to four times the work of a mid-block house, it is blower and shovel work rather than plow work, and it is why every rate card checked in this county carries a corner-lot surcharge.
For a sense of what the labor is worth: the City of Novi’s 2024 sidewalk contract prices clearing at $0.042 per linear foot per push for city sidewalks and pathways, $0.036 in parks, and $0.550 for areas subject to extreme drifting — thirteen times the standard rate. About 15 events are anticipated annually at a two-inch trigger. What this means for a residential quote.
Knowing the rule and having the time to satisfy it are different problems. Describe the property and get a season price.
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Oakland County