Dearborn Heights, MI Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

Sec. 28-29 of the Dearborn Heights City Code puts a firm clock on snow and ice removal. It makes it 'unlawful for any person to cause or permit the accumulation of snow and/or ice on sidewalks, alleys, approaches, servicewalks and any other paved surfaces adjoining his or her property used for pedestrian or vehicular travel,' and requires that all snow and ice be removed within twenty-four hours of the conclusion of a snow or ice event. The obligation runs to whoever owns or occupies the abutting property, and it covers every paved walking or driving surface next to that property, not just the main sidewalk, including alleys, driveway approaches, and service walks.

The section traces to Ordinance No. H-94-1, adopted March 22, 1994, and was carried forward by Ordinance No. H-02-29 on January 23, 2003, alongside the rest of Article II's sidewalk provisions. A related rule at Sec. 28-61 separately bars placing shoveled snow into the street, so clearing a walk by pushing the snow into the roadway does not satisfy Sec. 28-29 and creates a second problem for winter maintenance.

Enforcement runs through Sec. 28-30, which gives the building and engineering department general supervision over sidewalks, alleys and approaches and the authority to enforce Article II whenever it judges enforcement necessary for public health and safety. A property owner who leaves snow or ice in place past the twenty-four-hour window is responsible for a civil infraction under Sec. 28-30, placing the offense in Class C of the citywide fine schedule set out at Sec. 1-11, with fines that escalate for repeat violations within the same year.