Denver’s cold snap is earning some metro-area residents extra time to shovel their sidewalks.
Ron Ferruzza, Sheridan’s code-enforcement officer, on Friday afternoon said he hasn’t issued any citations with the latest round of storms. “It’s been too cold,” he said. “I’m not that mean.”
In Denver, code-enforcement officers have issued only three warnings, or “notices of violation” — and all three have been given to commercial sites.
“We’ve had so many separate snowfall events that we haven’t been hitting it too hard,” said Andrea Burns, a spokeswoman for Denver’s department of Community Planning and Development. “We’re also trying to be understanding of the extreme cold we’ve had.”
Even as temperatures warm enough for residents to venture out and hack at the packed ice and snow on sidewalks, forecasters expect another storm to drop up to 4 inches in and around Denver on Saturday.
Barton Wong, the code-enforcement supervisor in Aurora, said the municipal code doesn’t address the cold, but officers have discretion when people need extra time.
“I think we work with people,” he said. “We’re reasonable.”
Wong said he didn’t know how many warnings or citations have been issued in the past week, but he said the continuous snowfalls have not allowed for much enforcement.
Municipal codes place on residents the responsibility of clearing sidewalks for pedestrians and mail carriers — most of the time within 24 hours after the snow stops.
In Denver, operators of commercial sites, where pedestrian traffic is heavier, have four hours to clear walkways after the last snowfall.
City officials Friday said that because snow is expected to fall again Saturday, code enforcers will begin Monday to be on the lookout for slippery and dangerous sidewalks.
But, Burns said, “we ask people to shovel even when they may not have to right away to make sure the walkways are safe for pedestrians.”
For people needing help shoveling snow, Aurora has a Snow Busters volunteer program, and Volunteers of America has a that matches volunteers with seniors who live nearby in Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties.
Burns says the group needs more volunteers, particularly in Denver.
“The demand for help,” he said, “is greater than the volunteers they have right now.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or twitter.com/yeseniarobles
