General Snow Removal Policy

This policy is a passable roads policy that specifically recognizes that some snow and ice may and will remain on the pavement for certain amounts of time after a snow/ice event. Ice control operations will commence when hazardous conditions begin to develop.  The objective of the Village’s Ice Control Program is to respond to poor road condition reports within 30 minutes during normal work hours and within 60 minutes after hours.  Snow plowing operations will commence after snow has started to accumulate on the pavement causing hazardous driving conditions.

Streets maintained by the Village are prioritized into 3 categories:

1. Main and Primary
2. Secondary/Cross streets
3. Cul-de-sac and dead end streets

Plowing and ice control generally occurs between the hours of 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.  Between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. trucks are used as needed to keep main and primary roads passable.

Right-of-way damage - Unfortunately while removing snow from our streets some turf may get torn up from the plow blades.  Please call the Village hall to report turf damage and the Public Works Department will repair it in the spring when time and materials become available.

Salt & Chemical Use - In order to keep our roads as safe as possible, the Public Works Department not only uses salt (dry material) but combines salt with a liquid de-icing blend to aid in the removal of snow and ice accumulations on paved surfaces. 
Benefits of using a liquid in addition to salt are:

• Salt needs moisture to work.  Adding a liquid activates salt faster than just
  using a dry material.
• Using a liquid allows more salt to stay on the road when spread; therefore
  more material remains on the pavement.
• Lowers the working temperature of the salt.
• Can reduce salt usage by as much as 30%
• Contains an environmentally friendly product.

The Public Works Department also uses a practice called anti-icing on selected Village-owned roads.  Anti-icing is a chemical application to our main roads before an anticipated snow/ice event.  This aids in the prevention of snow and/or ice from bonding to the pavement surface at the beginning of the event.  The department produces its own liquid chemical called GeoBlend with the aid of an in-house production and blending system. You will recognize when a road has been given the application as it will have brown lines down each lane of travel.

Snow Emergency - A snow emergency may be declared by the Public Works Supervisor, Roads Chairperson, or other delegated authority when snow accumulations reach 6” or greater in a 24 hour period.  When a snow emergency has been declared all of the Public Works Department’s resources will be concentrated on snow and ice control. After the snow emergency has been cancelled, the department’s operations will return to normal.  At that time any snow or mailbox concerns will be addressed along with any other service requests in a timely manner. 

Snow in Driveways - Unfortunately while removing snow from the streets, snow gets deposited in the ends of driveways.  We regret this inconvenience but recognize this as part of snow removal and we ask our residents and business owners to do the same.  It is illegal to push or deposit snow across and/or onto the streets.  We ask residents to be conscious of this law. To reduce the amount of snow that may get deposited into the end of your driveway, pile snow to the right side (as you face the street) of your drive.

Driveway, private road and parking lot snow clearing should be conducted in such a way so no snow from private property is left on the paved portion of the municipal roadways.  This can create potentially hazardous conditions for motorists and increases overtime necessary for plow drivers to replow impacted areas. If your driveway is configured so there is no place to plow all your snow onto your own property, any snow that has been pushed onto the municipal roadway as a result of your driveway plowing must be cleared from the roadway immediately after your driveway is cleared. In addition, the snow must be pushed at least three (3) feet from the edge of the curb or edge of pavement.  Please note that Public Works crews have been instructed to report any violations to the Spring Grove Police Department for enforcement action.

Kindly forward this information to any parties responsible for snow clearing at your property in order to help us to keep our municipal roadways safe during the winter season.  Thank you for helping us in our efforts!