Snow Removal

Streets

Major Streets are plowed during the winter months by our street department.  Here are a few reminders to help make sure the City streets throughout town get cleared up as quickly and efficiently at possible.

  • Don’t get too close.  Please stay a couple hundred feet back (several car lengths) from operating plow trucks.  This is especially true around intersections where the trucks need to back up and turn around corners to keep the intersection clean.  You will know an in use plow truck by its operating strobe light and/or flashers.  
  • Don’t shovel or plow snow into or across the streets.  This creates hazards for City plow drivers as well as others who travel on the roads and is illegal.
  • Pile snow to the left of your driveway (as looking at your house from the street).  This is especially true on streets without curbs.  It goes without saying that the City plow will always (or so it may seem) plow your street and refill your driveway just after you have cleared it.  To keep the snow you have just shoveled from getting put plowed back into your approach the next time the crews go by, keep it to the left. 

Please use caution when crossing streets, as visibility can be limited due to snow banks.  Also, please discourage children from sledding on or tunneling into roadside snow banks.

Sidewalks

If you have sidewalks, shovel them.  It is the responsibility of the abutting property owner to keep sidewalks clear.  Even if the City helps keep the sidewalk next to you clear, like it does on many of the main school routes, it is the ultimate responsibility of the abutting property owner.  Help yourself and your neighbors be able to get around this winter without the use of a car by keeping your walkways clear for pedestrians.

Boyne City's ordinance states the following:

Sec. 54-60. - Snow and ice.

(a) The provisions of this section shall apply to the owner or owners of any lot or premises within the geographical area established by the city and on file at the city hall.

(b) If the owner or owners of any lot or premises, subject to the provisions of this section shall fail to remove the ice or snow obstructing the sidewalk or sidewalks adjoining or in front of said lot or premises, within 24 hours after said ice or snow has formed or has fallen, then the city commission will cause the same to be removed, and the expense, thereof, or such part thereof, as the city commission shall have determined, shall be charged to such owner or owners.

(c) If not paid, such expenses shall be a lien against the abutting property.