Windrow safety concerns raised at council

Times Reporter 

 

The issue of windrows being a hazard to seniors, business and the public in general has been addressed before council numerous times. At the Dec. 18 town council meeting the topic once again made its way into the discussion. 

Councillor Brad Walls said he has been contacted by a number of people, including senior citizens, who have concerns about the windrows. One woman reported that she had to crawl over top of one and was unable to actually get her vehicle in the driveway.

“It kind of concerned me a little bit, if there was a medical reason and we had to get the ambulance in there, how’s that going to work?” asked Walls. 

The woman’s neighbour has been assisting with snow removal. Walls said he understands this year has been different because of the amount of snow, but states this has been a continual problem and is a safety concern.

“We can definitely look into what potential solutions would be. I suggest that its likely going to require additional funds and support from either additional equipment or additional contracts,” said Jesse Parker, director of operations and engineering in the town.  

The first response in the event of a snowfall is to plow the roads, making sure the driving lane is safe, which results in the windrows being pushed to the sides.

“The only way to avoid that or to manage that is to remove them immediately after plowing. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen immediately just based on resources and staffing challenges,” said Parker. 

In residential areas the snow crew makes sure a driving lane is plowed, but again that creates problems with windrows. Having someone go behind the plow and remove all the snow is both a challenging and costly effort. 

A section in the snow removal policy states that accumulated snow in front of private driveway entrances or emergency accesses caused by town plowing operations will only be removed by the town for the following reasons: when the natural flow of stormwater is blocked by snow or ice; or in the event that the roadway or boulevard had exceeded snow storage capacity. 

“So our plowing acknowledges that the side of the road is for snow storage and that it is the responsibility of the driveway owners to remove that snow from their driveway,” said Parker. 

He continued on to say that administration will absolutely look into alternatives, solutions or potential options if council would like them to do so.  

Councillor Bob Sobol said he isn’t sure council should even be considering clearing driveway entrances.

“That is a substantial amount of work and I’m not even in agreement that we should even be looking down there because I know we’re going to be dealing with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to effect that goal,” said Sobol. 

“I like the fact that we focus on clearing the roads first because I didn’t like the ruts that we used to have. Actually this policy came in, and I remember this policy coming in, as way to get rid of the ruts that were forming in the road because our team couldn’t move fast enough to get the roads plowed and then start removing the snow.”

Councillor Denise Peterson said the current policy bears scrutiny, but feels there are solutions beyond what Sobol suggested, and that the solution lies deeper within the community. 

“I think that the job, the task of Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) is to work collaboratively in the community, to set up partnerships that work in the best interest of community,” said Peterson.

“I think this is a place that they could put their efforts and we could talk about things through FCSS recommendations in the event of priority snow events by asking them to coordinate volunteer services.” 

She further stated that FCSS could coordinate those volunteer services through Snow Angels and could work in partnership with them. 

Another thing that could be looked at, and something that was done in the past, is Strathmore High School used to fundraise during serious snow events, said Peterson. 

They put their students to the task of snow removal and would have a fundraising event over those two months.

“I think there is a solution and it doesn’t lie in Jesse’s department necessarily but I think it does lie in council’s (view) and the (view) of the greater community,” said Peterson. 

Councillor Pat Fule offered to help coordinate things through the high school after a snow event, and suggested earmarking houses to go to where they know there are elderly people that need to get out. 

Councillor Rocky Blokland said it wasn’t too long ago that FCSS had stated they didn’t have enough volunteers to shovel sidewalks for 65 people, and now they are to look for people to shovel 1,000 to 1,500 driveways

“I am sure if an ambulance has to pull up in front of a house and there is a windrow there they will find a way to hop over it, or plow through it or do something with it,” said Blokland.

Mayor Michael Ell said he would always agree that they can look for different solutions to the problems and he thinks there are a few ideas to be looked at. Administration will look further into the issue to find a solution.