Curious About City-Created Snow Piles On Front Yards
BILLERICA (CBS) - Even after more than a week's worth of melting, plenty of neighborhoods around the Commonwealth are still buried under inches of snow.
In Billerica, it's more like feet of snow - since town crews plowed and pushed massive piles of snow into people's front yards.
Mike from Billerica Declared his Curiosity about just how far his town is legally allowed to go on his property in order to stow the snow.
"Are towns allowed to use private property to remove and dump snow?"
WBZ-TV's Jim Armstrong reports.
The snowbanks on his front yard, and the yards of most of his neighbors, are still six to eight feet tall even after recent melting. He's afraid that his basement will flood with the springtime thaw.
We got Mike in touch with the town's Department of Public Works. It turns out, on his street, the town technically owns a big chunk of everyone's front yards -- everything from the curb extending roughly eleven feet toward the houses. So, the snowbanks are on town property.
DPW director Abdul Alkhatib says the town will repair all the curbs broken and sod uprooted by the plows in the spring.
The larger issue for homeowners everywhere: it might be worth a trip to town hall to make sure you own what you think you do.
