March certainly did blow in like a lion, dumping several inches of snow on the North Shore on March 1, followed by heavy accumulation last Thursday, with some areas reporting as much as 8 inches of fresh powder. In a winter that has seen eight snowstorms, a record high for Long Island, most Oyster Bay residents are tired of scraping windshields, shoveling driveways and traversing slippery sidewalks.
Even worse, narrow pathways and icy sidewalks cause many people to walk in the streets, and many parents have been concerned about the kids who walk to James H. Vernon middle school on Route 106. A debate ensued last month—one that has occurred in years past—as to whose responsibility it is to clear a stretch of sidewalk on the west side from Surrey Place to the school.
“I am in fear for their lives walking in the street to and from school,” said Lisa LaMagna, a parent whose daughter now attends Oyster Bay High School, though she currently drives two of her neighbors’ kids to Vernon school every morning.
LaMagna said that she took it upon herself to research the situation and never got a straight answer.
“No one is taking responsibility,” she said. “It is a busy road and cars are just inches from the walkers…it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Luckily for the kids, the Town of Oyster Bay stepped in to clear the area late last month.
“In the interest of protecting the public safety, health and welfare of the students who traverse the path immediately around the school, the town proactively went out and shoveled a path through the snow that had accumulated,” said Brian Devine, who works in the town’s public information office.
Devine said that residents can report anything they observe in regard to sidewalks not being shoveled in writing to the Code Enforcement Division by filling out a Code Enforcement Request form, which can be found on the town website.
But though they have helped the situation this year, the question still remained as to whether it is the town’s or homeowners’ responsibility to keep that sidewalk clear; even though the sidewalk is behind the adjacent homes.
For Town of Oyster Bay homeowners, the question of whose responsibility it is to clear snow from sidewalks on the side and behind homes just got a little easier to answer. Baron Law Firm, PLLC, based in East Northport, recently represented a homeowner in a case where a pedestrian was struck by a car while she walked on Old Country Road in Plainview in 2011. According to court papers, the pedestrian was forced to walk onto the Nassau County-owned roadway because snow and ice that had been plowed from the roadway by the county made the sidewalk impassable.
After the accident, the pedestrian sued the driver, as well as homeowners from three different residences, and Nassau County for the injuries she sustained.
The county’s legal counsel argued that the county was not liable because the homeowners were ultimately responsible for clearing snow on the side and behind their homes.
However, in reviewing the Town of Oyster Bay’s town code, Michael Newman, an associate at Baron Law Firm and attorney for one of the homeowners, found that the county was incorrectly presenting its case.
Newman said that Oyster Bay Town Code §205-2 explicitly states “Each owner and occupant of any house or other building … in the Town shall keep the sidewalk in front of the lot or house free from obstruction by snow or ice and icy conditions.”
“Because the code neglects to impose a duty on a homeowner to maintain the sidewalks on the side of or behind one’s home, the county owed the duty to maintain the subject sidewalk, not the homeowners,” said Newman, adding that Justice Denise Sher of the Nassau County Supreme Court ruled that the homeowners were not responsible for the pedestrian’s injuries as a matter of law. “Prior to this, it wasn’t necessarily clear who was responsible to clear the side and rear sidewalks of snow and ice. Now we know that in the Town of Oyster Bay, homeowners are only responsible for clearing snow and ice from the front of their homes.”
Newman said the town would have to rewrite its code if they want to make homeowners responsible for clearing sidewalks on the side(s) and/or rear of their homes.
Jeff Baron, owner of Baron Law Firm, said that action would likely create an unreasonable burden for homeowners, particularly those who live the middle of the block with a sidewalk running behind the rear of their lot.
“That result would be absurd,” said Baron, adding that he found it ironic that Nassau County’s lawyers, who are essentially paid by its taxpaying homeowners, were trying to shift the burden of responsibility from the county to the individual homeowners.
“It was stated in black and white that it is not the homeowners’ responsibility. And to make matters worse, it was the county’s own plowing methods that allegedly caused the sidewalk obstruction in the first place,” he said.
“The county was wrongfully trying to push this burden off onto its homeowners”, said Baron.
“They were attempting to abdicate their own legal responsibility to clear the sidewalks. The court found in our favor and it was, of course, no shock. Front means front.”
