The Alliance City Council is considering making an amendment to the code regarding snow removal following the dissolution of the Business Improvement Districts, which has left business owners in the district to remove their own snow from the sidewalks, without guidance as to where to place the snow.
Brent Kusek, Community Development Director for the City of Alliance, explained that the amendment would better clarify the ordinance that already exists.
“We had to add provisions for the downtown area,” said Kusek. “When we dissolved the Business Improvement Districts, the business owners had to start removing their own snow. So, we had to add some provisions in there for them to have the ability to do that. Before that, the City did it.”
The amendment would allow business owners in the downtown district to place their snow in the street, after which the city would remove as much of it as possible.
“Because the Business Improvement Districts that used to exist downtown no longer exist, we had to write into the ordinance the ability for the adjacent property owners to push the snow out in the street,” Kusek. “Then the city would come by and scoop it up as best we could off the street.”
Kusek noted that since the responsibility to remove the snow downtown fell on the City before the dissolution of the Business Improvement Districts, business owners are in uncharted territory.
“Since it wasn’t a problem beforehand, what’s existing for downtown is the same thing that exists for the rest of the community, which is, you’re not allowed to push your snow out into the street,” said Kusek.
The amendment also increases the amount of time that citizens throughout the City of Alliance are permitted to clear snow from their sidewalks.
“It gives them 48 hours as opposed to the previous 24 hours,” said Kusek.
The proposed amendment came before the Alliance City Council for the first reading on March 21. The amendment is on the agenda for their meeting on April 4, however, the results of the meeting were not available before press time.