Springfield, OH Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

Springfield Codified Ordinances Section 903.12, Duty to Keep Sidewalks Clean, sets a firm same-morning deadline: the occupants of every building fronting or abutting a sidewalk must clear snow, ice, dirt or filth from that sidewalk by 10:00 a.m. of the day after it accumulates. The duty is not limited to occupied buildings; the owner of any unimproved or unoccupied lot abutting a sidewalk must clear it on the same schedule, unless the City Manager has exempted that part of the City by resolution. Subsection (b), drawn from Ohio R.C.

723.11, restates the obligation as a standing prohibition: no owner or occupant of abutting land may fail to keep the sidewalk, curbs or gutters in repair and free of snow, ice or nuisance conditions. Because the duty runs to occupants as well as owners, a tenant, not just a landlord, can be the party responsible for a specific icy stretch of sidewalk in front of a rented building. The rule applies City-wide by default and only lapses where the City Manager has issued a specific exemption resolution for that area, so a resident cannot assume a side street or alley frontage is excluded without checking for such a resolution.