Fort Smith, AR Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

A search of the Fort Smith Code of Ordinances (Municode) Chapter 22 (Streets and Sidewalks) and the Neighborhood Services nuisance pages did not surface any provision imposing a mandatory snow-and-ice removal duty on private property owners or occupants for the public sidewalk abutting their property. Fort Smith averages roughly 4-6 inches of snow per year - significantly less than Northern Arkansas or the Ozark Highlands - and the City has not adopted the kind of short-deadline shoveling ordinance common in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic cities. Arkansas's underlying common-law rule is the natural-accumulation doctrine: under cases such as Kuykendall v. Newgent (Arkansas 1973) and progeny, an owner of property abutting a public sidewalk owes no duty to passersby to remove natural accumulations of snow and ice and is generally not liable for slip-and-fall injuries occurring on naturally-accumulated ice on a public sidewalk. The doctrine is modified by two important exceptions: (1) the owner may not create or aggravate the hazard (e.g., by directing downspout water across a walk where it freezes); and (2) once an owner voluntarily undertakes clearing, the work must be performed non-negligently - partial or careless clearing that leaves a more dangerous patch can give rise to voluntary-undertaking liability. Commercial property owners with business invitees on their own premises owe a higher duty under Arkansas premises-liability law and should clear their own sidewalks, parking lots, and entryways during and after storms even though the public sidewalk in front is not municipally required. The Fort Smith Street Department clears public streets and bridges; the City does not municipally clear sidewalks.