Lakeville, MN Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

Lakeville City Code § 7-3-8 makes it unlawful for the owner or occupant of real property to fail to remove snow and ice from the public sidewalk abutting their property within 48 hours after the snow or ice has been deposited. The section states its purpose directly: preventing sidewalks from becoming a public nuisance that endangers pedestrian safety. If a property stays out of compliance, the city does not have to sue to force cleanup; subsection C lets the city give the owner or occupant two days' advance written notice of the noncompliance, then send its own crews to remove the snow or ice and assess the cost against the property as a special assessment under Minnesota Statutes section 429.101, the same mechanism the city uses for other unpaid service charges tied to a specific parcel.

Separately from that cost-recovery remedy, subsection D makes a violation of the 48-hour deadline a petty misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $100.00, and it specifies that a separate violation occurs each day the noncompliance continues, so a sidewalk left uncleared for a week can generate a week's worth of separate $100 exposure rather than a single flat fine. The section was adopted by Ordinance 573 on April 1, 1996, and sits in the same public ways chapter as the city's boulevard maintenance and street lighting rules, reflecting the same owner-responsibility model the city applies to the public right of way generally.