Is it true that the town requires people with sidewalks and fire hydrants to shovel them clear after a snow storm?
Yes on the sidewalks, no on the hydrants. However, the town does urge us clear snow from hydrants.
Ridgefield’s village has had formal sidewalks since at least the mid-1800s. At first they were cinder-covered, but eventually they became paved with concrete or asphalt. (One unmaintained section of cinder sidewalk still exists along West Lane.)
For more than a century, Ridgefield has had laws requiring homeowners or tenants who border sidewalks to keep them clear or adequately treated.
The current version of ordinance 310-20 reads: “The tenant or occupant and, in case there shall be no tenant, the owner of any building or land or any person having the care of any building or land fronting on any highway where there is a sidewalk, within eight hours after the ceasing to fall of any snow, ice or sleet, in the daytime or before 12:00 noon of the following day, if in the interim, shall remove or cause the same to be removed from such sidewalk. If the same cannot wholly be removed, such person shall sprinkle it with sand or other proper substance to make the sidewalk safe for travel thereon.”
If anyone fails to follow that requirement, the selectmen can order the snow removed “at the expense of the owner.”
Besides the shoveling bill, there’s also a possible fine “of not more than $100 to the Town for each and every hour after the required removal time that said snow, ice or sleet shall not be removed.”
Ordinances don’t address fire hydrants, but those who live near hydrants would be wise to take care of them. If your house catches fire, and firefighters have to spend 15 minutes digging out a hydrant before getting a good source of water, your house may be toast.
In between calls this week, members of the Ridgefield Fire Department have been digging out hydrants, especially ones near population concentrations, like condominium complexes and shopping areas. However, there’s not enough manpower to excavate the hundreds of hydrants that may be buried, and the department asks that people living near hydrants keep them clear. There should be about three feet of open area around the plug.
Acting Fire Chief Kevin Tappe adds that there should be a path from the street to the hydrant — not from a sidewalk to the hydrant.
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