Seasonal and per-visit snow removal for Lake Orion and Orion Township property owners — with what this community actually publishes about plowing, sidewalks and who is responsible for what.
Work in Lake Orion and Orion Township 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.
Orion Township states the two facts that govern winter here more plainly than anyone else in the county. First: “Townships in Michigan have no jurisdiction over roads.” RCOC maintains all public roads here, subdivision streets included. Second, on the money: RCOC receives no property tax for roads and gets, on average, $2,000 to $3,000 per year per mile of subdivision street in state road funding. And third, on private roads: owners bordering them “are responsible for their maintenance and snow plowing. The Township does not handle private road upkeep.” Lake Orion also sits at the snowier end of the county — forecast 6 to 8 inches in the February 12–13, 2025 storm against 4 to 6 in the south.
Lake Orion and Orion Township is a township, and Michigan townships have no road jurisdiction at all. The Road Commission for Oakland County maintains every public road here, subdivision streets included — and RCOC states plainly that subdivision streets are at the bottom of its priority list, reached after more than 1,400 miles of major county road and 230 miles of multi-lane state highway. It has more than 1,300 miles of subdivision street to get to.
This community does not publish a residential plow trigger depth. Where a neighbor does, the range across the county runs from 2.5 inches in Birmingham to more than four in Troy and four inches in 24 hours in Farmington Hills — which is a wide enough spread that assuming is not safe.
This is the snowy end of the county. The National Weather Service reports average annual snowfall of 60 to 70 inches near its Detroit/Pontiac office in White Lake Township, against 41 inches at Detroit Metro Airport — a difference it attributes to elevation. In the February 12–13, 2025 storm, Lake Orion and Orion Township was forecast 6 to 8 inches. Triggers and completion targets across the county.
Private roads are the exception to all of it. No township, city or road commission in Oakland County plows a private road, and four jurisdictions state so in writing. Oakland County has roughly 5,600 miles of public road; everything beyond that is a private arrangement. What to do if yours is one.
No sidewalk snow ordinance deadline or penalty was verified for Lake Orion and Orion Township, so none is quoted here. What the neighbors require sets the range: Birmingham gives 12 hours after snowfall ceases and charges a minimum of $100 if a city crew has to do the work; Troy gives 24 hours for snow over two inches; Novi gives 48 hours after two inches or more, with ice salted immediately; Farmington Hills does not plow or salt sidewalks at all. Confirm the current requirement with the city before the season. The ordinances that are published.
Seasonal residential contracts on the one published Oakland County rate card run $1,595 for a single or double driveway with walkways, $2,795 for a circle drive or an unusually long driveway, and $7,995 for a large estate approach, with salting adding roughly $400 at the residential tiers. Per-visit work in recent Michigan data runs $50 to $100 for a typical driveway and sidewalk. Trigger is two inches; staking is included and done in the first week of November.
Ask one question before any of those numbers: does the price include a return pass after the municipal plow leaves a berm across the apron? Farmington Hills and Troy both state on the record that clearing that ridge is the homeowner’s job. All the published figures, with sources.
Nearby: Milford · Waterford · Madison Heights · Berkley · all service areas
Address, driveway type, what else needs clearing, corner or not, and whether the road is public or private.
Call (248) 494-7362 Get a Seasonal Quote
Oakland County