O P I N I O N

THE SOAPBOX

Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.

At the February 3, 2026 meeting of the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen, I spoke during the public comment portion to raise a practical issue related to snow removal and winter parking enforcement that many residents experience every winter, and to provide the Board with draft ordinance language for its consideration.

The issue is familiar to anyone who drives around the city after a snowstorm. During a declared snow emergency, all vehicles must be removed from city streets so plows can do their work. But once that emergency ends, typically at 6:00 a.m., vehicles that were never moved can immediately become legally parked again, even if plows were forced to go around them.

The result is easy to see. Streets remain narrowed, snow and ice buildup along the curb line, drainage is blocked, and conditions persist long after the storm itself has passed. These are not minor inconveniences. They affect emergency access, pedestrian safety, and the city’s ability to fully clear and maintain its streets.

This issue was raised at the previous Board meeting by Ward 7 Alderman Ross Terrio, and during that discussion the Manchester Police Department clarified that once a snow emergency ends, the city currently has no clear, condition-based authority to address vehicles that were plowed around and never complied with the emergency in the first place.

Following that discussion, and after seeing the aftermath of the most recent storm firsthand, I took some time to look at how other cities handle similar situations.

What I found is that many municipalities have moved beyond purely clock-based snow emergency rules and instead focus on whether snow removal has been completed. Some cities use what’s called a “completion standard,” meaning a street is not considered cleared until plowing reaches the curb line. Others use a “snowbound” standard, where vehicles left in place after plows pass are treated as ongoing obstructions.

For example, Wayzata, Minnesota, and Aberdeen, South Dakota, do not consider a street fully plowed if a vehicle forces a plow to go around it. Parking restrictions remain in effect for that specific location until the work is finished. In Ogden, Utah, vehicles left snowbound after plows carve around them are treated as abandoned and removed. Closer to home, Medford, Massachusetts uses existing parking rules and the visible condition of a snow-encased vehicle as evidence that it has not moved, allowing crews to remove it during post-storm widening.

The takeaway is straightforward. Once a vehicle is left in place after a storm, it stops being just parked and becomes an obstruction to public safety and snow removal operations.

At the February 3 meeting, during New Business, Ward 6 Alderman Crissy Kantor brought this proposal back before the Board. After discussion, the Board unanimously voted to refer my draft ordinance update to the Public Safety Committee and Bills for Second Reading.

To be clear, this proposal would give the City an additional, narrowly defined tool to address vehicles that remain snowbound and prevent curb-to-curb snow removal after a storm has ended. If a resident shovels out and moves their vehicle, the issue is resolved. If not, the City would have clear authority to ticket or remove the vehicle so plows can finish the job residents expect.
This is a modest change, but one rooted in common sense and existing practice elsewhere. It recognizes that effective snow removal does not end when the clock changes, but when the street is actually cleared.

I appreciate the Board’s willingness to engage with this issue and its decision to refer the matter for further consideration at the committee level. Thoughtful, incremental improvements like this are how city government can respond to real-world problems in a practical and responsible way.

Troy Micklon lives in Ward 9 and was a candidate for alderman in his ward in the 2025 election.

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