There is no Northeast Ohio sidewalk rule. There are nine of them, they disagree with each other by a full day, and the one most people are confident about — Cleveland’s — is widely reported wrong.
| City | Section | Deadline | What happens if you do not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland | § 507.13 | Before 9:00 a.m. each day | City may clear and bill; unpaid charge certified to the County Auditor and acts as a lien on the property |
| Westlake | § 1381.13 | Reasonable time, ordinarily not over 24 hours after the storm abates — minimum width 18 inches | City may clear and bill after notice plus 24 hours: $25 per 50 ft residential, $50 per 50 ft commercial, plus labor; unpaid after 30 days filed as a tax lien |
| Lakewood | § 521.06 | Within 24 hours after a snowfall | Enforced alongside the parking ban under § 351.18 |
| Shaker Heights | city policy | By 9 a.m. the day after a major snowfall | City plows sidewalks itself if snow reaches 6 inches, after streets are safe |
| Cleveland Heights | § 521.04 | Duty stated, no deadline given | Violation is a minor misdemeanor. No fine amount is published |
| Mentor | § 521.06 | Duty stated, no deadline given | Violation is a minor misdemeanor. Owners clear sidewalks and driveway aprons |
| Solon | § 660.05 | Duty stated, no snow deadline given | The 72-hour clock in that section covers earth, stone, sand and gravel — not snow |
| Chagrin Falls | code section 9200 | Within a reasonable time; ice treated promptly; curb ramps, crosswalks and bus stops kept passable | No fine amount and no clear-and-bill provision published |
| Strongsville | — | No sidewalk-snow ordinance was found | This site asserts no Strongsville sidewalk duty |
Several Northeast Ohio outlets report Cleveland’s sidewalk rule as a 24-hour window. The ordinance does not say that. Codified Ordinance § 507.13 requires every owner, occupant or person in charge of a building or lot fronting a street or alley to clear the sidewalk before 9:00 a.m. each day — a daily deadline, not a clock that starts when the snow stops. If full removal is genuinely impossible, the ordinance requires covering it with ashes, sand or similar so it can be walked on.
The enforcement is the part worth taking seriously. The Director of Public Service may have the snow removed and charge the owner for it, and an unpaid charge is certified to the County Auditor, where it acts as a lien upon the property. That is not a parking ticket.
If you are timing a contractor’s visit to the news version of this rule, you are timing it to the wrong number. A route that arrives mid-morning satisfies a 24-hour rule and misses a 9 a.m. one every single day.
Westlake’s § 1381.13 is the most concrete schedule in the metro, and two of its terms surprise people.
The first is the eighteen-inch minimum width. A single shovel pass is roughly that wide, so a path that looks cleared can still fall short of the ordinance. The second is what the city charges if it does the work after giving written notice and waiting 24 hours: $25 per 50 feet residential, $50 per 50 feet commercial, plus all labor costs — and if that goes unpaid for 30 days, it is filed with the county auditor as a tax lien.
Ohio Revised Code 723.011 is the state law underneath all of this. It lets municipalities require, by ordinance and with penalties, that owners and occupants keep sidewalks, curbs and gutters free from snow. It does not itself create owner liability — that comes from the local ordinance, which is why the answer changes at every city line.
Frontage is separate billable work from the driveway, and in Cleveland it is governed by a daily 9 a.m. deadline. Say how much of it you have when you call.
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