City of Salem Snow Emergency Reminders

With the arrival of winter, the City of Salem is issuing a reminder about the City's rules and ordinances regarding snow removal and parking during any declared snow emergency.

Salem's Snow Emergency Parking Rules

When a Snow Emergency goes into effect, vehicles must be removed from all City streets and sidewalks. Failure to do so will result in ticketing and/or towing.

• Click here for an interactive Snow Emergency parking map.

All vehicles must be removed from these parking locations following the cancellation of the snow emergency (weekends included) or vehicles will be towed at the owner's expense.

The information below identifies allowable snow parking locations during a snow emergency in the City of Salem. Please note that most Salem Public School lots are NOT allowable off-street winter snow emergency parking. On-street parking on several streets and other sites that have been identified as wide enough to enable parking during snow emergencies is permitted, as well as parking in other City lots and garages, as indicated on the map and table below.

The activation of the blue snow emergency lights at key intersections around the City is a signal that residents should visit www.salemma.gov for additional information and not a representation that a snow emergency parking ban is necessarily in effect at that precise time. Snow emergency parking rates in the City garages go into effecttwo hours before the declared start of the snow emergency and not when the blue snow emergency lights are activated. Vehicles parked in the garages before the snow emergency will be charged the regular parking rate.

Again, Salem Public School lots are not allowable as snow emergency parking locations, except as specified below. Parking a vehicle in a school lot during a snow emergency will result in a ticket and tow.

Where alternative parking locations are on-street, residents parking in those locations must park between the posted snow emergency parking area signs. Vehicles parked outside of the signed area are subject to ticketing and towing.

Snow Emergency Parking Location	Address	Type	Cost
Museum Place Parking Garage	1 New Liberty Street	Garage	$5/24 hours or any portion thereof, effective two hours before start of snow emergency.
MBTA Garage	252 Bridge Street	Garage	See www.mbta.com/stops/place-ER-0168
South Harbor Garage	10 Congress Street	Garage	$5/24 hours or any portion thereof, effective two hours before start of snow emergency.
Hampton Inn Garage	Dodge Street	Garage	$5/24 hours or any portion thereof, effective two hours before start of snow emergency.
Forest River Park	38 Clifton Avenue	Lot	Free
Salem Willows Park	200 Fort Avenue	Lot	Free
Universal Steel Parking Lot	297 Bridge Street	Lot	Free
SSU O'Keefe Center	225 Canal Street	Lot	Free. Permit required. Call 978-542-7341 to obtain.
Sargent Street (west side only)	Sargent Street	Street	Free
Lower Gallows Hill Park	50 Proctor Street	Lot	Free
Congress Street	West side only between Harbor and Dow Streets	Street	Free
Salem High School	Posted central lot	Lot	Free
Shetland Office Park	78 Congress Street	Lot	Free. Permit required. Visit the Parking Garage office, New Liberty Street, to obtain. Vehicle must be removed within 30 minutes of end of parking ban.
Salem Wharf	Blaney Street	Lot	Free
Castle Hill Park	14 Story Road	Lot	Free
Jackson Street	Head-in spaces adjacent to Collins Middle School	Street	Free
Collins Street (east side only)	From Webb Street to Conners Road	Street	Free
Mack Park	29 Grove Street	Multiple Lots	Free
Szetela Lane (north side only)	Szetela Lane along Collins Cove only	Street	Free
Bates School Basketball Court (not the parking lot)	55 Liberty Hill Avenue	Lot	Free
Old Senior Center	5 Broad Street	Lot	Free
Salem Street	Behind Saltonstall School and Palmer Cove, perpendicular spaces only	Street	Free
Broad Street Park	24 Jackson Street	Lot	Free
Lafayette Place	54 Lafayette Place	Lot	Free
Remond Park	1 Bridge Street	Lot	Free
Palmer Cove	30 Leavitt Street	Lot	Free
High Street Playground lot	2 High Street Court	Lot	Free. Zone D-Yellow resident parking only, however.
Beacon Avenue (east side perpendicular spaces)	Beacon Avenue	Lot	Free
Lathrop Street (north side only)	Along 9 Lathrop Street fence	Street	Free
Howard Street Cemetery Lot	Corner of Bridge & Howard Sts. perpendicular parking spaces only	Lot	Free

Additional details can be found on https://www.salemma.gov/snow-central

Not snow emergency parking

• All Salem Public School lots except those listed above.
• Mayor Jean A. Levesque Community Life Center parking lot at 401 Bridge Street.
• Church Street parking lots.
• Depot parking lot at the MBTA station.
• Riley Plaza parking lot (for permit holders only.)

Removing vehicles

Vehicles parked in any non-garage snow emergency parking location, including the new alternative on-street parking sites (Sargent Street, Congress Street, Collins Street, Szetela Lane, Beacon Avenue, and Lathrop Street) are required to be removed within six hours of the end of the snow emergency parking ban, unless otherwise posted or specified. Note that vehicles parked at Shetland must be removed from the lot within 30 minutes of the conclusion of the parking ban.

The only exception to this are for vehicles parked at the Bates School basketball court, the designated central lot at Salem High School, the marked perpendicular spaces on Salem Street immediately behind the Saltonstall School and Palmer Cove, and the Jackson Street and Broad Street Park spaces. Vehicles in these school locations are required to be removed no later than 6:00 a.m., whether or not the parking ban has been lifted, unless otherwise notified. If snow emergency parking in these locations is extended beyond 6:00 a.m. on a given day, it will be posted at salemma.gov and on the City's social media accounts.

Vehicles that are not removed in a timely manner from any snow emergency parking location will be ticketed and towed at the owner's expense. Vehicles parked in a garage after the snow emergency parking ban ends may continue to be charged at the regular non-snow emergency rate for that garage.

Snow removal at snow emergency parking locations will not take place until after snow clearing operations on City streets are completed. Please plan your vehicle needs and access accordingly.

Downtown Snow Emergency District

The City recognizes that businesses and restaurants continue to operate during snowfall, so this district designation allows patrons to park on these specific downtown streets for a longer period of time when there is snow. The parking ban time in downtown will be declared for each snow storm. For example, if a snow emergency is declared to become effective at 8:00 p.m., the City may separately enact a 10:00 p.m. parking ban declaration in the Downtown Snow Emergency District defined below. Any vehicles parked on streets in the district after the declared time will be ticketed and towed. The streets included in this district are as follows:

Washington Street (#1-191 only); Federal Street (from North Street to St. Peter Street); Essex Street (from North Street to Hawthorne Boulevard); Lynde Street; Norman Street; Church Street; Central Street (Essex Street to Derby Street); Front St., New Derby Street; Derby Street (Lafayette Street to Orange Street); Lafayette Street (#41-71 only); and Hawthorne Boulevard (westerly side of island).

Please be aware that snow plowing will still take place in this district during the entire snow event.

Click here for the Downtown Snow Emergency District Map.

Snow Emergency CodeRED Alert System Sign-Up

Salem residents can sign-up for the City's CodeRED Alert System to receive notifications on Snow Emergencies via phone, e-mail and/or text by clicking here.

Salem Plow Districts

Click here to view the snow plow districts.

Salem Sidewalk & Use Path Map

The City treats and plows high priority sidewalks and shared use paths. Click here for a map of these areas.

Winter Service Requests

Residents should report winter storm related issues by emailing [email protected]. Use this email address to report plowing issues, cases of snow left on or obstructing a sidewalk, and other similar snow-related issues. Do not use SeeClickFix to report snow-related issues.

Sidewalks

The removal of the snow and ice from sidewalks is greatly appreciated. This will help school children, the elderly, and the general public from having to walk in the street. The City of Salem clears designated sidewalks following each storm. It takes time to accomplish this task and it is only done after all the roads have been cleared.

There are city ordinances requiring property owners to remove snow and ice from their bordering sidewalks within six hours after the snow ceases to fall or the city's snow emergency lights are turned off, whichever time is later. If the snow ceases to fall and the snow emergency lights are turned off in the nighttime, the snow shall be removed before 12:00 noon. The ordinance sets fines of $25 for 1st offense, $75 for 2nd offense, and $100 for 3rd and subsequent offenses.

Driveways

While the Department of Public Services tries to minimize the amount of snow that gets plowed across driveways and exits, it is unavoidable. Clearing driveway openings is the responsibility of the property owner. Plow blades cannot be lifted as they pass by a driveway. Unfortunately, snow will be plowed into driveways as we perform curb-to-curb plowing. You may wish to clear your driveway several times during the storm or wait until the storm and plowing activities have ended.

Moving Snow into a City Street

Snowplowing, shoveling, or throwing snow back onto the street when clearing driveways and sidewalks is prohibited by City Ordinance and violators can be fined $75 for 1st offense, $150 for 2nd offense and $200 for 3rd and subsequent offenses.

Catch Basins

Help us stop street flooding by shoveling out catch basins near your home.

Fire Hydrants

There are many fire hydrants in the City of Salem. Please help Keep Salem Safe by shoveling around the hydrant(s) near your home.

Winter Sand

Winter sand is available for Salem residents at the Department of Public Works Garage located at 5 Jefferson Avenue. Please limit yourselves to two pails per visit.

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