What Happens When Homeowners Don't Clear Their Sidewalks?

A reader recently asked us the following question: "What happens when homeowners don't clear their sidewalks, more than 24 hours after a snow storm, and their sidewalks happen to be a bus stop for elementary school students?"

The short answer: there's no bylaw in Westborough that imposes penalties on residents who don't shovel their walkways: regardless of whether said sidewalks are near a school.

The longer answer: According to John Walden, manager of the Department of Public Works, the town clears the main road and the school walking sidewalks. At one point, the town stopped requiring resident to clear their walks because of the burden on the elderly.

Town Manager Jim Malloy clarified further: "We tried re-establishing (the shoveling bylaw) about two years ago and Town Meeting voters voted down the requirement that they shovel their sidewalks, so whether residents do or don't is up to them.

"We do shovel some sidewalks but can't do all of them; we neither have the staff or funding and road plowing is a higher priority during storms," Malloy continued.