More snow - ordinances (?)

Cheney’s City Council has set the wheels in motion to consider creating an ordinance requiring residents and businesses to clear sidewalks adjacent to their property after a snowfall.

Salnave-area resident Kathy Fleming approached the council during citizen comments at its Feb. 28 meeting about the need to keep sidewalks free of ice and snow during the winter. Fleming related a recent incident she witnessed where an older woman using a walker was walking down First Street — literally in the street — near Mitchell’s Harvest Foods because the sidewalks were covered with snow.

As a semi passed her, Fleming said the woman stopped, put her feet together and bent forward over her walker to protect herself. Fleming also told the council that she shovels her walks to provide safety for children leaving nearby Salnave Elementary School, but her neighbors do not.

“Cheney is a great town, but we need to join the real world,” she said. “Why can’t we just shovel the sidewalks?”

Along with a letter about the issue, Fleming gave the council examples of ordinances requiring the removal of ice and snow from sidewalks in six other Eastern Washington communities: Ellensburg, Pullman, Leavenworth, Chelan, Ephrata and Ritzville. The ordinances ranged in size from three pages in Ellensburg to a simple two sentence, 53 words total paragraph in Ephrata.

Most of the ordinances clearly defined who it was that is responsible for keeping sidewalks clear, including owners and occupants. Most also spelled out the consequences of failing to do so, with fines ranging from $25 to $250, along with other punitive measures — including ending up in court.

“Cheney doesn’t have cow paths and horse trails around town,” Fleming wrote in her letter to council. “Cheney is a proud city that has sidewalks. Now it is up to you to consider the safety of the citizenry and make those sidewalks useable year round.”

Mayor Tom Trulove said the issue of a sidewalk ordinance had been taken up by previous councils, which always decided against putting anything on the books. He listed several reasons why, including difficulty in enforcement, inability of the city to “staff up” to handle infrequent large snow events and the question of how to get students at Eastern Washington University in rental units to comply, particularly since they are often out of town over winter break when snow falls.

“Writing the ordinance is easy,” Trulove said. “The hard part is enforcement, feasibility.”

Trulove said there are a lot of issues and options to consider in writing such an ordinance. Councilman John Taves said he felt Fleming’s proposal was a good idea. Taves, who has some experience with the issue through his Snow Angels volunteer organization that helps clear sidewalks of snow and ice where residents are physically unable to do so, added there are circumstances unique to Cheney, however, and that if an ordinance were to be written it would need to be something useable.

Trulove proposed a temporary citizen’s committee be created to look into issues and options surrounding creating a sidewalk clearance ordinance. The committee should research the issues and come back before the council with options and a proposal.

Trulove recommended that Fleming and Taves be two individuals to serve on the committee.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.