N.J. may outlaw dumping snow on public property

A New Jersey Senate committee is expected to consider a measure next week that’s being called the “Anti-Snow Dumping Act.”The bill would prohibit depositing snow from private property on any public area.Sen. Donald Norcross said he’s sponsoring the legislation after Camden County road crews complained of extra work after clearing record snowfalls last winter.”Just when they thought they had everything cleaned, somebody from a private parking lot pushes their snow out into the middle of the street causing not only difficulties for the folks driving it, but difficulty for the county in that they have to re-establish a clear area,” said Norcross.Assemblyman John Burzichelli said lawmakers have received enough complaints from county road crews to see the need for the legislation.”People may say with all the problems we’re facing how does this bubble up to the top,” said Burzichelli. “I always remind people that while we work on the complicated issues that we can fix as we can fix them, we continue to work on the things that are great challenges.”The Assembly has yet to act on the bill that calls for a $250 fine for the first offense and $500 for subsequent violations.