West Des Moines, IA Property Maintenance: Snow & Sidewalk Clearing (2026)

Section 7-1-5 puts the duty to clear snow and ice squarely on the abutting property owner, not the City, for every public sidewalk except bike paths and combined bike/pedestrian paths the City itself maintains. The clock starts when the snow or ice-producing weather stops, and the owner has no more than twenty-four hours to remove it, though the Director of Public Services can publicly announce an extension during extraordinary weather. If the sidewalk is still not cleared, or the deicing treatment required for accumulations that genuinely cannot be removed is not kept up, the Director of Public Services, the Director of Development Services, or the Police Chief, the officials named as enforcers of the section, can personally serve or post a written notice to abate that gives the owner a further twenty-four hours, extended again for extraordinary weather, to fix the sidewalk.

If that second deadline also passes, the City Attorney can issue a municipal citation under Iowa Code section 364.22, or the City can hire a contractor or use its own crews to clear the walk and bill the owner the actual cost plus administrative expenses, collected the same way as a property tax if unpaid. Section 7-1-5 also separately bans shoveling or blowing snow from a sidewalk or driveway onto the traveled street, punishable as a civil citation under Iowa Code section 364.22(4). A second violation within the same snow season, defined as October 1 through May 1, can count as a repeat offense for the higher Iowa Code 364.22 civil penalty; a second violation in a later snow season resets and does not count as a repeat.