How do you handle snow removal from parking lots?

Snow removal. For the unfortunate like me who deal with snow storms, how do you handle snow removal from parking lots? We give our tenants about an hours notice when the snow plow is coming, instructing them to move their vehicles to the road so that the snow plow can safely and effectively plow the lots. As always, there are many who do NOT. (this is actually in the lease and we go over it every winter.) And now i have a building with more than half the lot unplowed and very unhappy tenants from the ones who did move their cars. One particular building seems to not be able to comprehend this. I spent the better part of my saturday trying to calm down the ones who did the right thing. The offenders obviously will have to shovel out their vehicles, but with more snow coming tomorrow I need to get my lot plowed so they are all safe.

Tow tow tow.

I would have loved to do that. I'll remind them of that that they will be at risk for that.

Their car gets buried once and that sets the precedence for the season.

A one hour notice seems like too little time, especially for night workers. If you know snow is coming, can you warn people the day before?

we are at the mercy of when the plow tells us they are coming to our property so we can't give much more notice than an hour or so.... This particular property is located on a street with NO overnight parking during winter (so they can plow). I did just give them a heads up that we are expecting more snow tomorrow and to be prepared. I also reminded them that vehicles that 'can't be moved or are disabled" are definitely going to be towed. We shall see.

Kathi Blatz Makes sense, it’s just a bad situation all around. I always feel for the night workers having been one for so many years. I’ve had my car towed because I was asleep and didn’t see the notice on my door until the night after they towed me. $200 fine just for being asleep!

We clean what we can during the storms then we send a 24 hour notice with a 3 hour window of the snow removal telling them to move their cars or they’ll be towed.
If they don’t move, we will call them and give them 15 minutes then the tow will take the car. Then you get a clean lot, a couple possibilities unhappy residents and the rest happy because they’re in a safe parking lot.

that's a good idea. My concern is a safe lot and no one falling. I also told an unhappy tenant that if she wanted to yell at someone, she should talk to her neighbors since it's easy to see (the parking spaces are their apartment numbers). lol

I would tell her that you understand it is an inconvenience to move the car, but you need to make sure you are providing a safe living environment for all and in doing so, all vehicles need to be removed from the lot temporarily. There’s no way around it. Otherwise, she can go look for another apartment in your area that has a tarp over the property to protect it from snow fall and other elements

WE don't plow parking spaces, only the drive sidewalks and thru the lot. Residents are informed heavily that due to liability the snow removal vendor does not go between cars and to use caution. Due to mother nature there is no way to send advance notice of the snow vendors arrival as often times it is outside of office hours. Everyone pretty uses common sense as it is the norm for us in the harsh Pittsburgh winters. We also advise those who wish to shovel the "HUMP" of snow to keep a shovel in the truck of the car with other handy winter emergency supplies(like rock slat and a blanket). When you go out to warm up your car; scrape your windshield and clear the remaining snow from by your car door.

common sense...i wish we had that...i get yelled at if the snow plow accidentally pushes snow too far into someones corner of their space (like a few inches)..or if people pull up and their car is over part of the sidewalk..god forbid we snow blow the walk a bit onto the grass..i specifically mentioned NOT parking on the side walk so we can safely snow blow the walk and salt it...oyyy

I also start around September reminding folks not to park on yellow fire curbs, fire lanes, over the lines in spaces etc. Try to educate and cultivate a "hey neighbor!" type of vibe that everyone wants the same courtesy extended. It goes over pretty well as we remind folks that when inclement weather hits you may not be able to see the lines so become familiar with where you park before the snow comes. No ones likes to have car doors bumped or scraped and they really don't want to be towed.

April Arnold i agree. I send out my fall newsletters in October and that is a topic I cover in great detail. Common sense would also dictate to be prepared if you live in a state where snow storms are expected and frequent (we are about to get about 10 inches today) so I tell them have a shovel and your own salt. However they expect concierge snow plow service sometimes. Meanwhile, I'll be working from home and likely shoveling my own building so that my maint guys can do their own buildings.

We don’t plow parking spaces. Just driveways

I know it's hard to do, but ask your contractor if they can set a schedule that your residents can plan for, or if there is a way to send an automated phone call or text message to all residents to accomplish the notification process?

Luckily i can text an entire building at one time when i do get notification. Sometimes I can give them a window of time..like today i already texted for tomorrow..although these are all adults, surely they know we are about to get more snow...but...

Lease violation

In most case the plow comes through early and clears the main drive and any empty spots. This allows people to get out and go to work with minimal problems. Then they return later in the day, when most are at work, and does the rest of the spaces. That being said, we give no notice. They are adults. If they haven't moved their car by that time to a cleared spot, or moved it when they see the plow guy there, then they shouldn't complain if they get plowed in.

You may have to go door to door

I feel your pain here in SW MN. I send out a text telling everyone that the plow guy will be there in the next couple of hours and that they need to move their vehicles. If they didn't move their vehicles they would have to shovel it themselves or pay someone else to do it. Everyone complies so far, but if they didn't I'd hire someone else to shovel their spot and bill them for it. This last time I also reminded them that it wasn't going to get warm out any time soon, so it won't be melting.

We made the plow come twice for a push. Once initially and the 2nd time later that day for clean up. Our maintenance team also shoveled in between vehicles and in front of garages. Pretty much the process for 20 years I was in Mi but now I’m in Phoenix. My teams here have no idea.

Get a tow truck to move the vehicles at their expense. Give them warning letter. After it costs them money they will never do it again

I love Mobile Doorman for notifying residents and keeping them up to date. An hours notice isn’t much and could be an inconvenience. The app does so much more as well. Very impressed with this new product and is highly recommend you look into it. I have no affiliation with Mobile Doorman. I’m in Minnesota so I know the pain of snow removal!

We clean what’s open, we don’t provide notice, though it’s a good idea there is always a bad seed somewhere.

Something else you can do is find a truck stop and ask them what they do in terms of the actual snow removal process..... at truck stops in locations that often get snow, they have their own plows and areas on site where they push snow from the fuel lanes, scale, out of the flow of traffic and any vacant parking spaces at the time he goes through (in some cases it is on an hourly basis). They typically commandeer a space or two and put in a steel frame grate so the melt drains away.... they use a non toxic snow melt since it drains into the ground water system.... they do it in such a way as no truck is plowed in(the only way that happens is if the driver parks it for more than maybe 2 days, meaning that he actually parked and went home).....