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By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
Flake after flake, hour after hour until about 20 inches of snow blanketed northeastern Connecticut. And how long do you have to get it gone? Thirty-six hours.
While the stacks of flakes paint a serene scene, local regulations require property owners to cut a clear swath through the loveliness within 36 hours of the end of the storm. Call it the "36 rule" --- 36 hours, 36 inches.
According to the Putnam code, the "owner or the person in possession and control" of property next to a sidewalk is required to remove all snow, sleet or ice to a "width of at least 36 inches" within 36 hours. And the rule applies to snow that fell there or was deposited on the sidewalk. And the sidewalk may be paved, graded, or planked.
If the precipitation is frozen so hard that it can't be removed, the owner is required to make it safe and passable by "covering any and all such snow, sleet or ice with sand or other suitable synthetic materials" within that same 36 hours. When it's possible to remove it, the owner must remove the ice.
Owners who do not have the sidewalks cleared in time may be fined $25 for each offense and can be fined another $25 each day after that.
And if a building is near a street or sidewalk where snow or ice might slide down the roof and hurt someone, that building owner has 36 hours to make the roof safe.
And where do you go with all that snow? Not on the street or sidewalk. "Every person or corporation violating any of the provisions of this subsection shall be fined not more than $50, the regulations say. The state has similar rules and fines, for those on state roads.
According to the regulations, the mayor or his designee can have the snow removed from a sidewalk where it has remained for 36 hours after the end of any storm and the cost of the removal can be liened against the property owner.