Services

Snow Clearing for Seniors and Residents With Disabilities

The sidewalk ordinance does not adjust for age or mobility. In Minneapolis it is 24 hours whoever you are; in Maple Grove, Hopkins and Robbinsdale it is 12. And the city will not do it for you — Golden Valley says so in as many words.

Call (612) 712-4640 Get a Seasonal Quote

What Cities Do and Do Not Do

“The City Will Not Clear Private Driveways, Including for Disabled Residents”

That is Golden Valley's published position, and it is representative. No city in this metro clears private driveways. Several clear public sidewalks — Minnetonka, Bloomington, Brooklyn Center, Crystal, Golden Valley, Richfield, Burnsville, Eagan and others — but in the cities that do not, the obligation and its deadline fall on the property owner regardless of whether shoveling is physically possible for them.

A few cities do point somewhere. Crystal refers residents needing snow removal help to SeniorCommunity.org. New Hope asks residents to clear hydrants on their property but says to call Public Works at 763-592-6777 if physically unable. Those are the exceptions rather than the rule, and neither is a service the city performs.

What Helps

Arrangements That Actually Work

A seasonal contract rather than per-visit. Per-visit means deciding, storm by storm, whether this one is worth calling about — a decision that gets made badly at 6 a.m. A seasonal contract means someone comes without being asked.
Get the trigger depth low and in writing. Two inches is the residential standard. For a household that genuinely cannot clear anything, a lower trigger is worth paying for, because the events below the threshold are the ones that accumulate into a problem.
Include the walk to the door and the steps, explicitly. A cleared driveway with an uncleared path to the front step is not a cleared property, and this is the most common gap in a cheap quote.
Ask about the plow ridge. The berm the city plow leaves across the apron is dense and heavy, and it is the single hardest part of the job to clear by hand. Confirm whether a return pass is included.
Consider the mailbox and the hydrant. Several cities ask residents to keep both clear, and both are the owner's responsibility even where the city plows everything else.

For an alley-served property in Saint Paul, the alley captain arrangement can work in your favor or against it — the block organizes and splits the cost, so a household that cannot organize is dependent on a neighbor who will. How the arrangement works.

Set It Up Before November

Say what needs clearing beyond the driveway — the walk, the steps, the mailbox — and whether a lower trigger depth matters. Both change the quote, and both are worth it here.

Call (612) 712-4640 Get a Seasonal Quote