Cold Lake, AB – After several complaints throughout the winter regarding residential sidewalk snow removal, council looked at the City’s bylaws and policies to determine if changes were needed, as administration plans for the next winter season.

“Municipal Enforcement was very proactive this winter,” said Mayor Craig Copeland. “They got out into the neighbourhoods to look around and make sure people knew they were supposed to be clearing the snow instead of waiting for complaints to come in.”

Feedback on the policy came in several different directions, including Municipal Enforcement not being assertive enough on property owners to get the sidewalks cleared; Municipal Enforcement being too quick to give tickets for bylaw infractions; and snow removal should be done by the City, to name a few.

Residents giving feedback about sidewalk snow removal showed there were a lot of questions from the community regarding responsibility and the fines given out and contractor costs to complete the sidewalk clearing under the bylaw as it is currently written.

Council was given the opportunity to maintain the existing policy or to take over the sidewalk snow clearing throughout the community. The latter option would mean contractors would be brought in to clear the approximately 111,500 metres of sidewalks throughout the city. Estimated costs based on average snowfall levels and contractor quotes would place a full winter of sidewalk snow removal at about $1.6 million dollars – depending on the weather.

A third option was to change parts of the bylaw, such as timeframe expectations, lessening the fines, or developing a removal program just for seniors or those with disability. Based on the number of registered addresses for the current Snow Angels program, it was estimated that clearing these properties would cost about $400,000 for the season. This cost is higher because a contractor would have to pack and unpack equipment at every specific address instead of doing a continuous run of snow clearing.

“While the City receives complaints and frustrations from residents that sidewalks aren’t been cleaned in front of properties, it’s appreciated that there’s a wide array of opinions on how enforcement should be handled or who should be responsible,” said Copeland. “We’re a community and this is what we do. We support each other and our neighbours; and clearing sidewalks is a part of that.”

At the end of the discussion, council opted to leave the policy as it is, with Municipal Enforcement having the discretion to determine if tickets are necessary for residential addresses that have not cleared their sidewalks. 

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