How To Not Get A Ticket In Lakewood During A Snowstorm

LAKEWOOD, OH — While the weather for this week appears to be warm and rainy, snow will fall again and soon. That's why the city is telling residents to avoid parking on city streets for more than 24-hours at a time.

Lakewood has an ordinance forbidding vehicles from being parked on a road for more than one day without being used in the "usual and ordinary manner." Disobeying the ordinance can get a car owner a ticket.

Vehicles that get snowed-in will be ticketed, the city said in a statement. A ticket and a town notice will be placed on cars that violate that order.

If police ticket a car and it remains unmoved after another 24-hour period, officers will try to contact the owner. If the owner can't be reached, the car gets towed.

Lakewood residents are also legally obligated to clear their sidewalks of snow in the winter. Lakewood Codified Ordinance Section 521.06(a) requires homeowners or occupants to shovel snow and breakup ice within 24 hours of a storm.

The city said uncleared sidewalks makes the commute to school difficult for children. Residents have already complained about seeing a line of children standing outside Lakewood High, being written up for tardiness. Some residents believe the students were late due to uncleared sidewalks.

On top of that, snow plowed off of streets and onto driveways becomes the homeowner or occupant's responsibility, the city said.

"Snow left in driveway aprons by the city while snow plowing is the residents’ and owners’ responsibility to remove," the city said on its website.

That snow in the driveway can also not be plowed into the street or onto a neighbor's property.

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