Madison, WI Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

28 places the removal duty squarely on the property owner: the owner of each lot or part of lot must remove all snow and ice from the sidewalk abutting their premises not later than 12:00 noon of the day after the snow or ice accumulated, regardless of how the accumulation occurred. Owners of corner properties abutting sidewalks on two intersecting streets must clear both streets' sidewalks, including the portion bordering the crosswalk and any curb ramp. Where ice has bonded to the walk so it cannot be removed, the owner must keep it sprinkled with sand or another suitable substance so it isn't dangerous, and remove the ice as soon as it can be.

Reasonable quantities of salt and other lawful melting agents are allowed, but only to the extent needed to treat the ice, and any excess salt or melting agent left after the melt or removal must also be cleared. The Building Inspection Division and Police Department share enforcement of the peace-and-quiet and property-maintenance provisions surrounding this section, and citations follow directly from a failure to meet the noon-the-next-day deadline. The section carries its own escalating forfeiture schedule and has been amended repeatedly, most recently by ORD-22-00112 on November 3, 2022.