Freehold Township, NJ Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

Chapter 278, Snow and Ice Removal, dates to a 1966 ordinance and was last amended in this article by Ord. No. O-10-23 in 2010. Section 278-1A requires the owner, occupant or tenant of residential property located near a public elementary or middle school, as shown on maps and street listings kept on file at Township offices, to remove all snow and ice from the abutting sidewalk or public right-of-way, or, where ice is too frozen to remove, to cover it with sand or ashes, within 48 hours of daylight after the snow or ice forms.

Section 278-1C imposes a much shorter 10-hour deadline on commercial premises used by the public or business invitees, covering sidewalks, streets, rights-of-way and parking areas used in the transaction of business, with the same sand-or-ashes option if removal is impractical. Section 278-2 separately requires private roadway owners open to the public to begin removal and salting within four hours of snowfall starting, continue through the storm, and have the roadway fully cleared within 10 hours after precipitation stops, with the Township empowered to step in and bill the owner if that is not done.

Section 278-3 bars anyone from throwing or depositing snow or ice from private property onto a public street. A 2024 addition, Article II (§§278-6 to 278-9, added by Ord. No. O-24-3), separately requires privately stored road salt and de-icing material to be kept under a roof or in a permanent structure to keep it out of stormwater.