St. Louis Park writes its sidewalk deadline in hours of daylight rather than clock hours — the only city in the metro to do so — and splits 116 miles of sidewalk between city crews and property owners.
The city clears 52-plus miles of community sidewalk, starting after one inch of accumulation, and about 30 of its 37 miles of trail. Property owners clear the remaining 64 miles of neighborhood sidewalk under Municipal Code Sec. 24-342(b1):
Note that the residential rule resolves in the owner's favor and the commercial rule against. Note also that the duty explicitly includes snow plowed from the street onto the sidewalk — the plow's windrow across your walk is yours.
There is no blanket overnight ban. Restrictions apply only when a snow emergency is declared — and then, day or night, vehicles must come off the street. Vehicles parked during an emergency may be ticketed, and if the vehicle is still there 12 hours after the ticket, it is towed. Year-round, no vehicle may sit on a city street more than 48 consecutive hours.
Over 90 streets are winter parking exemption streets, where on-street parking is allowed before, during and after snow events. Those get posted no-parking signs 24 to 48 hours ahead and are usually cleared two to four days after the citywide cleanup. If you live on one, your winter works differently from the rest of the city — check the city's exemption map.
Three inches is the threshold for considering an emergency, not an automatic trigger; the city weighs timing, conditions and forecast, and may declare in advance of a storm. Operations typically begin between midnight and 5 a.m., with residential streets and cul-de-sacs targeted by noon. Snow emergency line: 952.230.0743.
St. Louis Park publishes unusually good numbers: by 1950 it was the fastest growing community in the state, adding 1,068 housing units in that year alone, and homes built in the 1950s make up 24% of the entire housing stock. The median year built for owner-occupied housing is 1954, against 1975 for rentals. Over 900 units predate 1930, and the earliest — built by Monitor Works for its factory workers — still stand in the Elmwood neighborhood.
Mailboxes: the city replaces or repairs boxes physically struck by the plow blade, wing or equipment, but states that boxes should be built to withstand snow rolling off a plow, so damage from the weight of snow is the homeowner's. The same rule covers fences and trees. Median household income is about $101,600.
Address, driveway size, sidewalk frontage and whether it is a corner. Four facts and the quote stops being a range. What moves the number in St. Louis Park.
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