WESTLOCK – Additional “no parking snow route” signs, along with some minor tweaks are expected to be part of the next draft of the Town of Westlock snow removal policy.
Discussed for close to 30 minutes by council and administration at the March 15 committee of the whole meeting, CAO Simone Wiley said the proposed changes to Snow Removal Guidelines for Roadways P-20-2007 doesn’t address service levels, but are instead meant to clarify procedures. Town staff, including bylaw enforcement, as well as the grader operators, did provide feedback on the document, which was last reviewed in 2018. The policy is expected to be back in front of council in April for ratification as COW meetings are meant for discussion and don’t allow for the passing of bylaws and policies.
“We’ve improved this bylaw a little by over the last three years,” noted mayor Ralph Leriger.
The policy, via diagrams, clearly identifies the placement of the “no parking snow route day of the week” signs and designates one at each end of the roadway. Operations department staffer Don Fagnan said issues arise when there are alleys that lead onto the street, meaning drivers could potentially miss seeing the signs.
As of the end of February, the municipality has issued 29, $120 violation tickets for people who hadn’t removed their vehicles from streets slated to be plowed, while 12 vehicles were towed — the town reported six had been physically removed and six were moved by the owners as the tow truck was hooking up.
“On a plain, one-block street we only need two signs, one at each end. It’s when there’s alleys coming out on to the streets so bylaw (enforcement) wants us to put an extra sign in the middle. So we have to figure out how many signs … we didn’t have enough this year already because when you put them out people run them over,” said Fagnan, who noted that in some cases placing and then retrieving the signs can be as time consuming as plowing the roads.
“And they steal them. I watched a white van pull up, throw one in the back and drive away and I couldn’t do a thing about it,” added Leriger. “But administration is trying to find a balance. We have to have a bylaw that is enforceable and that’s the intent these regulations as well.”
As well, snow removal signage will be placed a minimum of 24 hours prior to a particular area being plowed.
“So that, in combination with our day of the week signage should really help with enforcement side of things,” said Wiley.
“This is a service we provide so every hour we add to signage is one less hour that we can spend on snow removal. That’s where we need to look at efficiencies because it’s a service that matters to our citizens,” added Coun. Murtaza Jamaly.
And although there was talk of trying to narrow the time window when crews begin work, it was deemed unworkable.
“Then let’s have a sign for every house … we’ll be at 8:59 at this house and 9:03 at this house. The intent of the sign is to move your car, we’re going to remove the snow,” said Leriger.
Added Coun. Randy Wold: “I agree you can’t do anything about the timing. You say 8 a.m. and people expect it at 8 a.m. but they can only start on one street. And if you’re doing 10 streets in a day and you’re starting at the other end, things happen with breakdowns and things like that.”
New for the policy are snow removal times — Priority 1 (emergency) and 2 routes (business core and schools) will start at 9 p.m. and continue until 8:30 a.m. the next day. Priority 3, business continuity, and Priority 4, residential, will both start at 8 a.m. Two other minor changes were suggested for the snow removal priority map by Fagnan.
“Going into a residential neighbourhood before 8 a.m. is where the majority of the cars are still on the street, so operationally it makes sense to move it to 8 a.m.,” Wiley noted.
As well the policy will include a line that says that on weekends and general holidays the operations department may start to call staff in once the accumulation exceeds 100 millimetres. Finally, snow removal in Priority 3 and 4 areas may be suspended depending on the weather.
“And with our improved ability to communicate we should be able to get the word out if service needs to be suspended,” added Leriger.
