After the City of Beacon robocalled residents to remind them to shovel their sidewalks, and shovel them better or face fines after 2.5 feet of snow fell, plus a few more inches a few days later, and more snow forecasted, A Little Beacon Blog followed up with Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris White, to find out what the fines were and what was required in snow removal from sidewalks.

ALBB: What is the fee for the City to remove snow from a sidewalk?

“The fee for the city to clear a sidewalk is a $125.00 administration fee plus $1.25 per lineal foot of sidewalk cleared.”

ALBB: When the City of Beacon Highway Department clears the sidewalk of a resident, and the resident pays the fee, are the employees of the Highway Department paid additional? Or is this part of their general work description?

“No. This is part of their general work.”

ALBB: Would shoveling of sidewalks fall into overtime for them?

“No. This is done during the normal work day on regular time.”

ALBB: Regarding width of shoveling: the robocall mentioned that baby strollers could not get through. If a resident has shoveled their sidewalk, but only so much for adults to walk through, and not a stroller, is that enough? Or is there a width requirement of snow removal on a sidewalk?

“The Beacon City Code requires the width of the sidewalk be cleared. That said, the City prioritizes clearing sidewalks that have not been cleared at all.”

ALBB: Regarding plowing done by the Highway Department: the trucks do mound snow back onto the sidewalks and driveways. According to some older residents of Beacon who have been here for 20+ years, the plowing did not seem to push back onto the sidewalks as much. Can you comment as to this snow clearing strategy?

“I can’t comment on what people say. I lived here in the 1990s and remember people complaining about that in the past as well. When you have heavy snowfalls, it is difficult to deal with the volume of snow.”

ALBB: Regarding snow removal into the street: There are at times nowhere else for the snow to go. If a yard is small, or has bushes or trees, there is literally nowhere to blow the snow if a snowblower is used, or a shovel. Can you advise?

Awaiting response. Will post when updated.

ALBB: A reader asked if there are zones of the City that have little foot traffic, like a side street, that are not subject to fine?

This was a new question in addition to the original list. Awaiting response. Will post when updated

After February’s blizzard dropped 2.5’ feet of snow, the Dig Out process began. Beacon’s Highway Department drove into Overtime in order to clear the streets day and night. Residents shoveled and powered up snow blowers to clear the snow. Which snowed twice within a 24hr period. Requiring 2 rounds of snow removal for those who were trying to keep up with it.

The following week (yesterday), another snowfall occurred, with more inches of heavy, ice-like snow falling. This prompted the Mayor’s Office to call residents with a reminder to remove snow, stating that baby strollers could not get through some sidewalks. As a pusher of a stroller for 10 years, it is common knowledge that sidewalks in Beacon will never be 100% clear enough for a stroller to get through (and the sidewalks themselves are broken or in some cases, non-existent). Of strollers that can get through plowed snow, a 3-wheel jogging stroller is usually required, which compares to an off-roading vehicle, as opposed to a more common 4-wheel stroller with small wheels, which will barely get through any snow at all.

In the evening of Beacon’s 2nd blizzard, as people returned home from a commute if they have one, or turned away from Remote Learning if they had kids at home during the Snow-Day-Not-A-Snow-Day, the Mayor’s Office delivered a robo-call to residents, reminding them to clear their sidewalks, and letting them know of a fine that could happen if the Highway Department needed to clear their sidewalks for them. Instead of the Mayor delivering the message as he had hours earlier to deliver a vaccination awareness message, residents heard from his assistant regarding snow removal consequences:

Please help us keep everyone safe during this inclement weather.

Keep the roads clear by avoiding unnecessary travel; park in City parking lots or in your driveway. Any car parked on a city street after two inches of snowfall is subject to being towed.

Your car needs to be move out of City parking lots 24 hours after the snow has stopped falling so the Highway Department can clear the lots.

Let’s keep the sidewalks cleared for everyone, there were a lot of baby strollers struggling to get through narrow paths last week. It is your responsibility to clear your sidewalk within 24 hours after the snow stops falling. If you do not do so, the City will clear it for you and charge you a fine.

Please do not throw snow in the road as it can turn to ice and can become a hazard.

Sidewalk Path Width

Following up on this message, A Little Beacon Blog has reached out to the Mayor’s Office to gain clarification on the required width - if any - on how wide the shoveling of the snow on a sidewalk needs to be.

Shoveling is a lot of work. People who cannot, due to time or physical hardship, hire locals or companies to dig out for them. Blue Green Lawns, a new landscaping company serving Poughkeepsie and Beacon, dug out 10 properties for the first storm, and 4 properties for the second storm. According to Blue Green Lawns, some homeowners specified: “We need you immediately so that we don’t get fined.”

Sidewalk Snow Throwback From Highway Department Plow Trucks

While the sentiment of gratitude is there for the Highway Department to be plowing, and earning anticipated overtime during the winter blizzard season, residents do dread when the truck passes by and pushes the snow from the street back onto a freshly shoveled sidewalk. “It didn’t used to be this way,” one long-time Beacon resident stated, who has lived in Beacon for 30 years and has a corner lot. “They didn’t used to push the snow back into our sidewalk. They left it in the street.”

Also notable is the corner of a sidewalk. If a resident digs out but stops at the corner, then a person must turn around to walk back

Running Out Of Room To Put The Snow

While removing 2.5’ feet of snow, it is unclear on what to do if there is no room at the resident’s property to put the snow. One person’s yard may be spacious, another person’s yard may have large bushes or trees in front, thereby making snow placement impossible after shoveling it from the sidewalk, and forcing it into the street, as it has nowhere left to go.

After snowfall, from time to time and for certain areas, the City of Beacon does remove, or cut, snow from the street to place it in piles near Memorial Park.

Sidewalk Fines If Highway Department Digs Out A Resident

During Monday night’s City Council Workshop meeting, the new City Administrator, Chris White, and Mayor Lee Kyriacou indicated a schedule of pricing, for how to calculate how much a homeowner would be fined, depending on the area needing cleared.