Residents have 48 hours to clear snow

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

As with every winter the snow seems to bring forward different complaints and issues, from going over budget with snow removal to walks not being shoveled. On Jan. 7 the discussion of sidewalk snow removal was brought to council.
The current bylaw states that residents and businesses have 48 hours to clear snow from the sidewalks lining their property. If they do not abide by this, and a complaint is called in to Municipal Enforcement, a bylaw officer will attend the property, create a file, and call a contractor to come clear the snow, with a $100 bill going to the homeowner.
Resident Amanda Spyce made a request to council to see if a warning system could be put into place instead. She had been ticketed in November and said she had a hard time believing the amount of snow in front of her house warranted a $100 fine.
“I am very confident that if the bylaw officer had informed me that I had to remove snow/ice within 24 hours that this would have been a lot more effective and a longer term solution than a fine,” said Spyce in a letter to council.
She continued on to say that “with a fine process it is hard for people to know what the expectations are for snow removal, especially since it appears that the bylaw is being inconsistently enforced.”
Kevin Taylor spoke on behalf of Municipal Enforcement at the meeting, explaining that this is not a fine; it pays for the administration and contractor fees.
In the past there had been a ticket – fine – written to the homeowner, placed on their door. The next chance the officer would have to get back to that residence, if they noticed the sidewalk wasn’t done another ticket was issued. It could turn into a long, drawn out process often ending with no resolution, and sidewalks still not cleared.
“It was taking too long to get the sidewalk cleared of snow and ice. With the bylaw ticket, most did not get paid,” said Taylor.
“Under this bylaw we get sidewalks cleared and cleaned within 48 hours after snowfall to make it safe for sidewalk users. We do patrols checking on the sidewalks, we receive citizen complaints on sidewalks not being cleared and on each case that we have a call, or when we recognize that the sidewalk needs to be cleared photos are taken of the residence and the sidewalk, a file is created on each address and then the contractor is called to come out and remove the snow.
“The sidewalk needs to be cleaned right down to the cement otherwise users such as the elderly, people in wheelchairs, mom and dads pushing strollers, it makes it very difficult to be going through the sidewalk if it’s not cleared down to the cement.”
In Calgary the bylaw is complaint based. People have 24 hours after the snowfall to clear their sidewalks. If a complaint is called in they will receive a warning, and the next step is to send a crew out to do it and the homeowner will be billed. Chestermere’s bylaw is exactly the same as what Strathmore has in place.
The amendment to the bylaw happened in the spring of 2014. Taylor said in January to March there were 31 bylaw tags attached to the door, none of them were paid and sidewalks weren’t cleared.
After the changes, from November to December there were 100 files, and all were cleared the same day as contact.
Councillor Bob Sobol read an e-mail into the minutes written by Cherie Coe, who was unable to attend the meeting. She was opposed to the idea of changing to a warning system.
“With home ownership comes responsibility, it is not your neighbour’s responsibility, nor the town’s to ensure your sidewalk is cleared. If you can’t find the time to take care of your responsibility then I suggest you support the local economy and hire it done. I think in the long run it would be a lot less expensive then fine after fine,” said Coe.
Councillor Steve Grajczyk brought up a complaint some residents have voiced in the past: if the residents are expected to do it in 48 hours, then the town should be under the same guidelines too.
“How do we handle that, if we’re going to charge them, what about us,” said Grajczyk.
Taylor argued that residences have 20 to 40 feet to shovel in that time frame versus the countless kilometers that the town is responsible for.
“It is also a matter of liability, so it’s not the homeowner who is liable, the town owns the sidewalks, we would be liable if someone slipped and fell. That’s why the Municipal Government Act allows us to pass bylaws to control that. A municipality can’t possibly take care of all of the sidewalks,” said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Linda Nelson.
“The fact of the matter is everybody has got a responsibility to do this, including the town and I think the town for that amount that they have and the staff that we have, I think we do an admirable job with our pathways and the areas that we have to clean,” said Councillor Bob Sobol.
In the end the suggestion from Spyce was accepted for information and the bylaw will remain the same with 48 hours to clear snow, or a contractor will be called in to remove it for you.