Compared to the past couple of years the winter of 2024 has been relatively snowy so far, with several storms dumping as much as a foot of snow on the area.
Hellertown Borough Hall is visible at Main and Water streets as heavy snow falls around it. (FILE PHOTO)
Along with the increase in snow, there has also been an increase in the number of snow removal warnings and citations issued by the Borough of Hellertown’s Department of Code Enforcement.
According to zoning and codes officer Kris Russo’s monthly report submitted in advance of Tuesday’s borough council meeting, since Jan. 8 fourteen Hellertown property owners have received citations and three have been issued written warnings. Warning notices are issued at the borough’s discretion, and require owners to remove snow within 24 hours of receipt.
“There was a lot of enforcement with snow,” Russo told council during the meeting.
Nine of the property addresses on Russo’s citation list were on Main Street. Others were on E. Saucon Street, Maple Road, Easton Road, Juniper Road and Wagner Avenue.
Under the Hellertown borough code, it is “the duty of owners of property abutting on sidewalks and walkways in the Borough to remove there-from all snow, sleet or ice within 24 hours after the same has ceased to fall or accumulate thereon.”
Exceptions are granted only under limited circumstances outlined in the ordinance, including when snow or ice is so hard that removing it could damage a sidewalk and/or injure someone.
Fines for violating the snow removal ordinance start at $25 for a first offense and increase to $1,000 for a fourth or subsequent citation.
Recipients of citations can also be charged what it cost the borough to remove the snow from their property, plus administrative costs.
