LONG LAKE, MINNESOTA
Your driveway is cleared within 10 hours after snowfall stops. In Long Lake, the driveway carries more of the load than most people realize, because the street is off limits every night of the year.
City ordinance bars parking on any Long Lake street between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., any day, snow or not. Temporary exceptions have to be requested from City staff at least two business days ahead, which doesn't help much when a storm rolls in overnight.
The zoning code narrows it further. Zoning Code Section 21, Subdivision 6(F) allows front-yard parking in residential districts only on the driveway leading into the garage, plus one surfaced space beside it. Bury that side pad in snow and you've lost the only extra spot the code allows.
Every Long Lake drive on our route runs on a 2 inch trigger, with the front walk and entry steps cleared on each visit.
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A Long Lake drive usually has two jobs in winter: the lane into the garage, and the single surfaced pad beside it that the zoning code allows for an extra car. Both have to stay open, because neither the street nor the rest of the front yard is an option.
We plow both with rubber cutting edges, which spare pavers, stamped concrete and fresh asphalt the chipping a steel blade can cause, and we stake the edges before the freeze so the pad stays easy to find under snow.
With the street closed to parking every night, guests end up on the driveway, and the walk from there to the door gets more traffic than you'd expect.
That walk and the entry steps are part of every visit. Steps are shoveled by hand, since a hand crew can work stone and brick treads without nicking them.
Late in the day, the edges of the banks start to melt, water spreads across the pavement, and by the time the sun is gone it has set up as ice.
Treatment of the drive, walk and steps is timed to that refreeze, with salt drawn from 100 tons we keep at our own shop.
The easiest place to push snow on a Long Lake lot is often the side pad, which is exactly the spot you can least afford to lose. By midwinter, the banks around the drive start closing in from both sides.
Once there's no good place left, we move the snow elsewhere on the property or load it into trucks and take it away, and the pad and the drive are back to full size.
Plan on $200 to $250 a month, November through April, for a standard Long Lake driveway, billed monthly as one seasonal price.
A standard drive is up to two cars wide, around 20 feet, and up to 60 feet long, about 1,200 square feet in all. A side parking pad, a longer drive or a bigger set of steps is priced in.
Those numbers assume the standard 2 inch trigger. Lowering it means more trips and a higher price. If you'd rather pay per storm, per push service is available.
Most Long Lake streets are plowed by the city's Public Works Department, but Brown Road, which is County Road 146, is plowed by Hennepin County Public Works. The city will repair a mailbox hit directly by its plow only if the box and post are properly placed behind the curb or along the edge of the street, and it doesn't cover damage from snow pressure or snow rolling off the plow. Parking and plowing details from the City of Long Lake.
Freshwater Landscaping
3425 Shoreline Dr Ste B, Wayzata, MN 55391
(612) 999-8067
Office: Mon-Sun 8am-6pm
No. City ordinance prohibits parking on any street from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. every day of the year, and temporary exceptions need City staff approval at least two business days in advance.
Zoning Code Section 21, Subdivision 6(F) limits front-yard parking in residential districts to the driveway leading into the garage and one surfaced space beside it. Keeping that side space clear of snow keeps your extra spot usable.
Brown Road is County Road 146, so it's plowed by Hennepin County Public Works rather than the city. Most other streets in town are plowed by city Public Works.
Your drive is cleared within 10 hours after snowfall stops. That window is counted from when the storm ends, and service runs on a 2 inch trigger.
They're plowed with rubber cutting edges, which are much gentler than a steel blade. The front walk and entry steps are shoveled by hand.
We can. A commercial site sets its own trigger, whether 2 inch, 1 inch, half inch, or zero tolerance, which puts a crew on the property before the snow starts to clear continuously. Each visit is recorded in Yeti with photos and time stamps.
Plan on $200 to $250 a month, November through April, for a standard Long Lake driveway, billed monthly as one seasonal price. A side pad, longer drive or larger step run is priced in.
When the snow melts, the same company takes care of the rest of the property, from landscape design to patios and lawn care.
You keep one contact who knows the place all year.
Routes fill and then we're closed. Tell us about your property and what needs clearing, and we'll get you a spot. The storm-alert checkbox is optional. Check it and you'll get a text the moment crews head out.