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

Chapter 380 of the Perth Amboy City Code, adopted 3-19-1967 as Ch. 78 and amended in its entirety 4-20-1993 by Ord. No. 666-93, puts sidewalk snow duty on the people who hold the frontage. Section 380-1A applies to the owner or owners and the occupant or occupants of any premises, property, or vacant land abutting or bordering upon any street in the City of Perth Amboy, so an empty lot carries the same duty as a house or store. The deadline is twenty-four hours after the snow or ice has ceased to fall or form. Where ice is so frozen to the sidewalk that removal is impracticable, the owner or occupant must cause it to be thoroughly covered with sand or ashes within that same window. The 2011 amendment to this subsection is Ord. No. 1567-2011.

Private roadways run on a shorter clock. Under § 380-1B, the owner of real property on which a private street, highway, lane, alley or other roadway open to the public has been constructed must clear all snow and ice within twelve hours of daylight after it falls or forms. That subsection applies only to the owner of a multiple-dwelling housing development containing three or more units of dwelling space, as set forth in N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.47.

Section 380-2 bars pushing the problem onto the street. No owner or occupant of abutting premises can throw, place or deposit snow or ice onto or upon any street, except what falls or forms on the portion of the property lying within the sidewalk lines. The section states its purpose as stopping people from casting snow accumulated on private property onto the sidewalks or streets of the City of Perth Amboy.

If the work is not done, § 380-3 lets the officer in charge of the Department of Public Works have the snow or ice removed. The cost is certified to the Assessor, becomes a first and paramount lien on the premises, and is collected in the same manner as taxes. Paying a fine does not bar the City from collecting that cost.