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Questions from both counties

Snow Plowing Questions, Answered for Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties

The questions below come up every fall from year-round households in the city, retirees on long drives out on Old Mission, and owners of lake houses on the Leelanau shore who will not see them again until spring.

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Traverse City Snow Plowing is a referral service. Every answer here is information, and every plow, shovel and bag of salt belongs to an independent contractor working under its own name and insurance, never to this site.

101.4″airport normal snowfall, NCEI 1991–2020
142.1″Maple City, the snowiest station in the area
93.1″Northport, at the tip of the Leelanau peninsula
~145″measured at the airport in 2025–26 through April 1
Getting Started

How the Referral and the Contract Work

How does this site work, and who actually plows my drive?
You describe the property — where it is, what the drive is like, whether anyone lives there this winter — by phone or through the request form. The request goes to an independent, insured plow operator who covers that part of Grand Traverse or Leelanau County and has room on a route. That operator quotes, signs the contract with you, and does the work under their own name. This site owns no trucks and employs no drivers.
Should I buy a season contract or just call when it snows?
Around here the question is really route or on-call. A season or monthly contract puts the property on a route, cleared in order every time the trigger is met. An on-call customer pays before the visit and is fitted in after every route customer is done, which after a big storm can mean the next day. For anyone who needs the drive open on a schedule, the route is the product. Route and on-call compared.
What trigger depth should be in the contract?
The one trigger any local operator publishes is 2 inches, and that is a sensible residential default. It is a contract term, not a rule, so get the number written down. A lower trigger means more visits and a higher price; a higher one means more snow underfoot between visits.
When do I need to sign up?
Contracts are sold in October and November, and several local operators say outright that routes fill. None of them publishes a cutoff date. A request that arrives after the first heavy storm is far more likely to land on the on-call list than on a route.
Snow and Roads

The Snow, the Bay and the County Roads

How much snow does Traverse City actually get?
The NOAA/NCEI 1991–2020 normal at Cherry Capital Airport is 101.4 inches a year. That is the middle of the range, not the top: the Maple City station in the Leelanau uplands averages 142.1 inches and Northport at the tip of the peninsula 93.1. The winter of 2025–26 reached about 145 inches at the airport by April 1, after 140.5 the winter before. Where the snow falls.
Does the snow stop once the bay freezes?
Sometimes it eases, but the bay usually does not freeze. West Grand Traverse Bay froze in February 2026 for the first time since 2019, and since 1980 it has frozen in under 40% of winters, against about 80% before that. In most years the water stays open and lake-effect snow keeps coming through March. Plan for the whole season.
Why is there a ridge of snow across the end of my drive after it was plowed?
That is the county berm. The Grand Traverse County Road Commission says plainly that as it plows the road, some snow inevitably ends up at the ends of driveways, and it does not come back to clear it. Its advice is to pile your own snow on the right side of the drive as you face the road, so the county plow has somewhere to push. Ask the contractor whether a return pass for the berm is part of the contract. The county plow berm.
Can the contractor just push my snow across the road?
No, and a careful one will refuse. Michigan’s MCL 257.677a forbids depositing snow, ice or slush on a roadway, or piling it so it blocks a driver’s line of sight, with a civil fine of up to $100. The statute also covers anyone who “causes” snow to be deposited, which reaches the owner who hired the plow. In the Village of Suttons Bay, Ordinance 12 of 2004, §4 bans putting snow from private property onto any street, sidewalk or right-of-way, at up to $500 a day.
The road to my cottage is not plowed at all. Is that normal?
If it is a designated seasonal road, yes. Neither the Grand Traverse nor the Leelanau county road commission plows seasonal roads from November through April, and Leelanau has 63 miles of them. The Grand Traverse commission tells landowners they need to do their own snow removal. Private roads are the owners’ responsibility too. Neither commission publishes a list, so ask the road commission whether your road is designated seasonal. Seasonal and private roads.
Who pays if my mailbox gets knocked down?
Both county road commissions help only when their own equipment hits the box, not when snow or ice thrown off the blade knocks it over. Leelanau’s commission wants the face of the box at least 6 feet off the edge of the blacktop or 1 foot behind the shoulder, and advises against plastic boxes. A private contractor’s liability for its own truck is a question for that contractor’s insurance.
Local Rules

Sidewalks and Winter Parking

Do I have to shovel the city sidewalk in front of my house?
Inside Traverse City, yes. Sec. 668.11 puts the sidewalk abutting private property on the occupant, and a violation is a civil infraction. The city’s pages do not publish an hours deadline or a fine amount. In July 2026 commissioners asked for stronger enforcement, particularly downtown and for second homes. The full local rules.
When can I not park on the street overnight?
In Traverse City, from November 16 through April 14, cars on any street or alley between 3 and 6 a.m. can be towed at the owner’s expense; downtown never allows parking in those hours. On Grand Traverse County roads, Ordinance No. 12 bans parking December 1 through March 31 from midnight to 8 a.m. In the Village of Suttons Bay it is December 1 through March 30, 2 to 6 a.m.
Away for the Winter

Second Homes, Rentals, Roofs and Propane

I am downstate most of the winter. How will I know the drive was done?
Ask for it in the contract. The vacant-property contracts arranged through this site require the contractor to send a photo after each visit, including a view of the roofline from the ground, and to report anything unusual. Second homes and vacant property.
I rent the house out in winter. Does that change anything?
It changes the schedule and the stakes. Guests need the drive and the walk clear before a known arrival, not just after a storm, so an arrival-ready pass belongs in the contract. Michigan’s Supreme Court, in Kandil-Elsayed v. F & E Oil (2023), moved “open and obvious” hazards into comparative fault, and paying guests are owed more care than social visitors. On Old Mission the question does not arise: Peninsula Township bans rentals under 30 days outside commercial zoning, with fines from $500 to $5,000 a day, so a peninsula second home is simply empty all winter.
Can the plow contractor take the snow off my roof?
The plow contractor observes the roof from the ground and reports what they see: a sagging line, heavy load, ice dams, long icicles at the eave. Removing roof snow is a separate trade, and the right person is a roof-snow contractor carrying its own insurance. Nobody from this site, and no homeowner, should be up there. Ten to twelve inches of fresh snow weighs roughly 5 pounds per square foot, and an inch of ice about as much as a foot of fresh snow. Roof snow and ice dams.
The house heats with propane. What should the contract say?
That the route to the tank stays clear for the delivery truck, and that the furnace and dryer vents are checked for drifting on each visit. Propane is common outside the natural-gas lines here, and an empty tank or a buried vent is a freeze or a shutdown that no thermostat will warn you about. Ask your propane supplier whether it offers remote tank monitoring or automatic fills.
What does homeowners insurance expect of an empty house in winter?
Most Michigan homeowner policies exclude freeze damage unless heat was kept on or the water was shut off and the system drained. The state insurance regulator, DIFS, advises keeping the heat at least 55 °F, or having the system shut off and drained by a professional, and having someone check on the house. Read your own policy for its vacancy terms. For the contractor, ask for a certificate of insurance before the season starts; it should run through the whole winter.
Paperwork and the Rest

License, Tax, Pets and Spring

Does the contractor need a license?
There is no license to ask for. Michigan issues no snow-removal license, and no city, village or township in these two counties was found to require one. A contractor describing itself as holding a snow license is describing something that does not exist. What you can verify is insurance: a current certificate, for the full season.
Will I pay sales tax on the contract?
Not on the plowing. Michigan sales tax applies to tangible goods, and snow removal is not one of the services Michigan’s use tax reaches. If you buy bagged salt as a product, that sale is a separate question.
Is the de-icer safe for my dog?
Say so when you sign and ask what product is used. Several local operators offer a pet-friendly de-icer. It is also worth knowing that ordinary rock salt loses effectiveness at around 15 °F, so the product matters as much as the amount.
What happens in April?
It still snows. The airport averages 2.6 inches in April, and a late storm on top of a thawing drive leaves heavy, wet snow that still has to go somewhere. No end date is standard among local contracts, so read yours. If the contract ends in March, an April storm is either a per-push call or a shovel.

What a season costs is covered on the pricing page, and every community covered is listed under service areas.

A Question Not on This Page?

Call, or put it in the message box on the request form, and the contractor who covers your road can answer it for your property.

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