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

Chapter 555, Streets and Sidewalks, Article IV, 'Snow and Ice on Sidewalks,' was adopted January 13, 1981, by Ord. No. MC 2622 as Chapter 171, Article IV of the 1981 Revised Code, and § 555-73 was amended January 11, 1983, by Ord. No. MC 2682, which repealed the older 'failure of owner to remove' penalty section and folded enforcement into today's structure. The duty runs to 'every owner or tenant of any land abutting upon the public highways of the Township,' so a commercial landlord and a residential tenant carry the identical 24-hour clock, and that clock starts only once precipitation 'ceases to fall,' not when the storm begins, so an ongoing multi-day snowfall does not start the countdown early.

The current penalty schedule sits at § 555-75, last amended January 26, 2016, by Ord. No. MC 3563, and it escalates per violation rather than resetting each winter: $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second, $750 for a third, and a maximum $1,000 fourth offense that also carries a mandatory court appearance instead of a simple fine. The identical dollar figures and escalation apply to § 555-74, a companion section making it unlawful to throw or deposit shoveled snow onto a public street beyond three feet of the curbline from the sidewalk area, or onto a neighbor's walkway or driveway without the neighbor's prior permission.

Because both sections share one penalty table, a single storm can generate separate citations, one for a late sidewalk and one for where the shoveled snow ended up.