URBANA – A proposed sidewalk snow removal ordinance, set to be considered by the city council later this month, won't require residents to shovel sidewalks in front of their homes.

Instead, the city will stress voluntary and educational efforts to encourage people to clear their sidewalks, according to Mayor Laurel Prussing.

Prussing said the ordinance, still being drafted, will be discussed by the council as the committee of the whole at its Jan. 14 meeting.

The mayor said she is proposing:

– That commercial properties, including apartment buildings and the downtown area, be required to remove snow from sidewalks. But the emphasis will be on obtaining voluntary compliance. Enforcement is likely to be patterned after the city's no-smoking ordinance in bars and restaurants, with violators first receiving education, then warnings and then "penalties as a last resort," Prussing said.

– A voluntary approach to clearing sidewalks in residential areas. Prussing said she will try to create a "good Samaritans corps" of residents who own snow blowers to clear sidewalks along major arterial streets and major walking routes to schools and grocery stores.

Prussing said she is volunteering to use her own snowblower to clear the sidewalks along George Huff Drive between Race and Vine streets and, if necessary, to clear the sidewalk on the west side of Vine Street from George Huff to the city building.

"We (the city) didn't think we have the physical capability of passing this and enforcing it citywide," said Prussing, "so what we're trying to do is a targeted approach for residential properties."

Last month, Prussing had indicated that the city council would likely consider requiring residents to clear sidewalks after a snowfall. But she said she now thinks a voluntary approach is preferable.

"The approach is to get people to be considerate of their neighbors," Prussing said. "We're trying to go back in time where people were much more neighborly."

Getting more people to clear their sidewalks is important because a significant number of residents walk to work, Prussing said.

"This is a city that has a high proportion of people walking to work," she said. "I think we're double the national average, so we're trying to accommodate that."

Alderman Charlie Smyth said he has concerns about how the city would deal with sidewalks that are close to the road, like Lincoln Avenue, and where city snowplows repeatedly deposit snow after a heavy snow.

"Last year at Leal (Elementary) School, the school district cleared the snow and the next day the snow was back on the sidewalks because the snowplows had piled it up," he said. "I have real concerns (in areas) where the sidewalks are not separated by the parkway."