At the recent Spring Clean Up Day volunteers commented on places where businesses were not keeping their sidewalks clear, clean and unobstructed. We thought that perhaps some of those businesses were unaware of their responsibilities and perhaps we all could use a reminder.
Below is an excerpt from the City of Asheville Code of Ordinances, Part II, Chapter 16: Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places.
Sec. 16-3. Keeping sidewalks, grass strips, drainage swales and gutters clear, clean and unobstructed.
(c) Maintenance requirements.
(1) Sidewalk, curb and grass strip: It shall be the responsibility of the responsible party to ensure that the public sidewalk and curb abutting a property owner’s property are kept clear of dirt, grass, weeds, mud, trash, debris and vegetation of any kind to prevent a hazard to the public. The vegetation shall be removed, cut or trimmed so as not to require a pedestrian to take evasive action to avoid physical contact with the same or otherwise hinder the safe passage of pedestrians. The grass strip between the sidewalk and curb is to be kept mowed to a height not to exceed 18 inches.
(2) Drainage swales: The responsible party that has a drainage swale running along the street that abuts the responsible party’s property shall mow and otherwise properly maintain such swale so that it can continue to serve its proper drainage function.
(3) Ice: The responsible party whose property abuts a paved sidewalk upon which ice may in any manner accumulate from any source other than from a weather event, shall remove such ice from the sidewalk on or before 10:00 a.m. each day in which the temperature exceeds 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
(5) Weather event: The responsible party whose property abuts a paved sidewalk, shall remove snow, hail, sleet and other similar accumulation from such within 48 hours after the snow, hail, sleet or other similar accumulation ceases to fall.
(d) Prohibitions.
(1) Failure to remove: It shall be unlawful and a violation of this section for any person charged with the responsibility to remove ice, snow, sleet, hail or other similar weather event accumulations to fail to remove same within the time limit stated herein.
(2) Encroachment into streets: It shall be unlawful and a violation of this section for any person to cause to be moved, pushed, scraped, shoveled or thrown, any ice or snow from private property into the traveled portion of any street right of way in such a manner as to impede the normal movement of traffic on the street.
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