Massena mails sidewalk shoveling reminders

MASSENA — Snow and ice should not be clogging up village sidewalks.

To drive that point home, Massena officials sent letters to 339 businesses and nonprofits reminding them of the village code.

The letter, dated Jan. 26 and signed by Gregory C. Fregoe, code enforcement officer, was sent to every property owner on the village’s fire inspection list. Village code states that property owners must remove snow and ice “as soon as possible” after a storm. If they can’t remove the ice, they must cover it with sand or “other suitable substance.”

“Your failure to comply with this notice will result in the village Department of Public Works performing this requirement and billing you for time and materials,” the letter states.

Mr. Fregoe said the village has not yet fined anyone based on the letter.

The letter’s target is owners who, in the process of plowing driveways, dump snow onto public sidewalks, he said.

“When a person plows somebody out, they’ve got to be careful where they dump the snow,” he said.

Business owners had mixed feelings on the letter, which is meant to target absentee landlords and repeat violators.

Patricia M. Wells, owner of Downtown Florist, 67 Andrews St., said she found the letter frustrating. Road crews often push snow onto her property, sidewalk and parking lot at Andrews and West Orvis streets, she said.

“It’s not my snow. It’s the snow from the highway they’ve pushed onto my property and they want me to move it,” she said. “I thought they could be more courteous in taking the snow with them.”

Timothy Post of Paul Post Realty, 11 Main St., said he wondered how the village could enforce a shoveling requirement with downtown landlords who don’t live anywhere near Massena.

Bob Smith of Bob Smith’s Barber Shop, Main Street, said he didn’t mind. Brother-in-law Roy P. Rivard shovels the sidewalk out front each day that it snows.

Mr. Fregoe said Mayor James F. Hidy gave him a directive to write the letter.

“It’s in the interest of public safety,” Mr. Hidy said. “It was sent out to the masses.”