Federal Way, WA Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

040 makes it the duty of the property owner, lessee, or occupant of property abutting or bordering any highway, street, avenue, or public place to remove or cause to be removed all snow and ice from the sidewalk in front of or adjacent to the property, to the full width of the walk, within 24 hours after the snow or ice accumulates. The clock runs from accumulation, not from a city notice, so the duty is self-executing every time it snows. 050 then addresses where that cleared snow can go: it is unlawful to scrape, plow, pile, dump, push, or deposit snow on, into, or upon any city street, right-of-way, or traffic sign.

The chapter is careful to say this dumping ban does not stop a property owner from removing snow from public sidewalks, and it does not interfere with the city's own snow removal or street maintenance operations, so owners can still push cleared snow onto their own property or the parking strip rather than into the roadway. 80 RCW, and each day the sidewalk remains uncleared, or snow remains dumped in the street, is treated as a separate offense. 005.