New Bedford, MA Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)
Key Facts
- Daytime snowfall deadline
- 4 hours after it stops
- Overnight snowfall deadline
- By 11:00 a.m. next day
- Fine for noncompliance
- $50.00 flat
- Dumping onto neighbor's walk
- Prohibited without permission
- Enforcing agencies
- Inspectional Services; Public Infrastructure
Summary
New Bedford Code of Ordinances § 22-15 gives every abutting owner or occupant a strict clock to clear sidewalk snow: four hours after daytime snowfall stops, or by 11:00 a.m. the next morning if it fell overnight. Missing the deadline draws a flat fifty-dollar fine.
Every owner or occupant of a building or lot of land abutting upon a sidewalk in any street or public place in the city shall cause the snow to be removed from such sidewalk within a reasonable time after such snow has ceased to fall; except that under unusual or extraordinary circumstances a reasonable time shall be held to be as follows: If snow falls in the day time, it shall be removed from the sidewalk within four (4) hours from time it shall have ceased falling; if in the night time, it shall be removed on or before 11:00 in the forenoon next succeeding. The provisions of this section shall apply to snow falling from any building or accumulating upon such sidewalk from any other cause. ... Any violation of this section shall result in a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00).
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 19).
Full Breakdown
the following morning. ' The section also bars a separate kind of dumping: no one may shovel snow or ice from a sidewalk, street, or their own property and push it onto a neighbor's abutting sidewalk or property without that owner's express permission. Enforcement is split by where the snow lands: the department of inspectional services takes the lead when snow is placed on private property, while the department of public infrastructure enforces snow left on public property, though the ordinance authorizes either department to enforce the whole section.
A related section, § 22-16, lets the chief of police tow any vehicle that gets in the way of snowplowing or ice removal on a public way, billing the owner for towing and storage.
Violations & Fines
Any violation of § 22-15, whether failing to clear a sidewalk within the four-hour/11:00 a.m. windows or dumping snow onto a neighbor's sidewalk or property without permission, carries a flat fine of fifty dollars ($50.00) per the ordinance text. The department of inspectional services enforces private-property violations and the department of public infrastructure enforces public-property violations, with both departments cross-authorized to act on any violation of the section.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to shovel my sidewalk after it snows in New Bedford?
What's the fine if I don't clear my sidewalk in time?
Who enforces the New Bedford sidewalk snow rule?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in New Bedford
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Snow & Sidewalk Clearing in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Bristol County handle snow & sidewalk clearing.