See how much you'll owe if you don't shovel in Somerville

Several sidewalks on corner properties in downtown Somerville are covered with snow. Don't shovel in Somerville and face up to $1,250 in fines

SOMERVILLE -- Borough officials are ready to slap property owners with a fine of up to $1,250 per offense if they don't remove snow from their sidewalks.

A borough ordinance requires property owners to have all snow and ice removed from their sidewalks no later than 12 daylight hours after a snowfall ends. According to the borough, it allowed that grace period to be extended because of Saturday's blizzard, but now officials are getting ready to enforce the ordinance, especially for those who own corner properties.

"The idea is to point out the ordinance and encourage people to make it safe for the kids going to school and the pedestrians who are going to work," said Mayor Brian Gallagher. "Our goal is compliance to the ordinance for the safety of the community, not to fine people. We're giving residents plenty of time to comply. No one has been fined to my knowledge.

"We want to clean the streets. Obviously, with 30 inches of snow it's going to take time for residents to clean up. We just want to use social media to get the message out. This ordinance has been on the books for a long time. As school resumes, we want to make sure the walkways are safe for students to get by and not have to walk on the street."

Throughout downtown Somerville, mountains of snow remain from the weekend winter storm and is piled up on street corners, making it difficult for pedestrians to cross the street. Pedestrians must often navigate through a small path of snow, ice or water to reach their destination.

"It's 30 inches of snow, we get it," said Gallagher. "We're no different from a lot of other municipalities. There's not a lot of places for people to put the snow. I live on a corner property myself. My back is still hurting from shoveling snow. We just want to make sure that the walkways are open and safe."