Bristol, CT Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

Section 21-23 of the Bristol Code of Ordinances places the snow and ice removal duty on the owner or occupant of land adjoining any street with a paved sidewalk or sidewalk wheelchair ramp. The clock starts at the end of the storm: twelve hours to clear snow if the storm ends between 3:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., but only nine hours if it ends between 9:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. Ice gets the same deadlines, with an alternative to outright removal: the owner may instead cover the ice with salt and sand so the sidewalk is safe for travel.

Section 21-25 assigns enforcement to the chief of police, who reports uncleared walks to the director of public works; the city can then clear the walk itself and lien the cost against the property. Subsection (b) sets the fine at seventy-five dollars ($75.00) per offense, though an owner whose sidewalk carries both a sidewalk and a wheelchair ramp is fined only once, not twice, when both are left uncleared. When clearing is required, the sidewalk must be opened to a width of at least four feet, and any wheelchair ramp must be cleared and sanded for its full width, never less than thirty-six inches.

Section 21-24 separately bars dumping snow into the travel lane of the street or onto a neighboring property without that neighbor's consent, enforced through the same police infraction process under Section 1-11.