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

Hackensack City Code Section 148-31, in Article VI of Chapter 148 (Streets and Sidewalks), places the sidewalk-clearing duty on "all owners, tenants or occupants of lands abutting" a public sidewalk, street or public place. The clock is not calendar hours: the six-hour window runs from daylight after the snow or ice "ceased to fall or form," so a storm that stops overnight gives owners until six hours into the following daylight to clear the walk, while a storm that ends mid-afternoon must be cleared the same day.

The duty covers ice as well as snow, and applies to the full sidewalk in front of or abutting the property, not just a path. Section 148-32 adds a companion rule: once the Public Works Department has plowed the roadway, residents may not shovel their own snow back into the street the plow already cleared. If an owner, tenant or occupant refuses or neglects to clear the walk, Section 148-33 lets the Superintendent of Public Works remove or arrange removal of the snow and ice at the City's expense, then certify the cost to the City Council.

That cost becomes a lien on the abutting land and is added to and collected with the property's next tax bill, the same enforcement route used for unpaid taxes. Because Chapter 148 does not set its own fine for a bare failure to shovel, the general Code penalty in Section 1-15 applies by default: a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment up to 90 days, or community service up to 90 days, with each day of noncompliance treated as a separate offense. Enforcement is handled through the Building, Housing and Land Use Department and the Department of Public Works.