Look up a municipality's sidewalk-clearing ordinance and deadline

Steps

1. Search the specific municipality's code, often hosted on Municode, American Legal Publishing, or the city's own site, for the sidewalk snow-removal ordinance section, since requirements are set locally, not by state or federal law.
2. Note the deadline structure the city uses; examples vary widely — several Minnesota cities use roughly 24-hour post-snowfall windows, New York City uses tiered windows based on when snowfall ends (as short as about 4 hours for daytime-ending snow), and other cities key deadlines to a declared snow emergency.
3. Confirm whether the deadline is measured from when snowfall ends, when it starts, or when a snow emergency is declared, since the trigger point differs by city.
4. Check for property-type distinctions, since some cities give commercial or multi-family properties shorter deadlines than single-family homes.
5. Build a per-property compliance calendar keyed to each client's specific municipal deadline rather than applying one company-wide standard across a multi-city book of business.