Season's first snowfall brings flurry of complaints: The Fixer
In areas where the city doesn't plow sidewalks, property owners must clear them no more than 12 hours after the snow ends.

thestar.com
By Jack Lakey
Dec. 14, 2016

The season’s first snowstorm had barely faded away before complaints about snow clearing started drifting in.

If the forecasts are correct, we’re looking at an old-fashioned winter, with a lot more snow and cold weather than last year’s balmy, winter-that-wasn’t.

And if Sunday’s 14-centimetre dump is an indication, there’ll be a shovelful of dissatisfaction with the city’s response, no matter how well or poorly it clears the roads and sidewalks.

Sara Froats sent us a note saying “while it is wonderful that most of our (suburban) sidewalks get plowed, what is not wonderful is the mess left where the sidewalk meets the street.

“It is not uncommon to have to wade through hard compacted snow and ice left where the sidewalk plow stops and the street one begins, in order to cross a road.”

Peter Reich emailed to say the snow wasn’t cleared - again - in front of a Toronto Hydro building on the south side of Charles St., east of Church St.

“In the 17 years I have lived on that block, the sidewalk in front of the Hydro property has never been salted or shoveled,” he said.

Yarmila Filey copied us on an email to city officials about sidewalk plows that gouge the grass in front of her house and undo her shoveling.

“Last year I did the sidewalk and not long after along came the road plow. So I did the sidewalk again and then came the sidewalk plow guy, bringing all the snow from the corner and more windrows.

“Please save money and get rid of the sidewalk plow. Frankly, my blood pressure can't take all your help.”

Ubayd Deen says a busy pedestrian pathway between Robbinstone Dr. and Markham Rd. wasn’t cleared, in contrast to the sidewalks at either end of it.

“This happens every winter as I have been monitoring it over the years, and I always have to contact 311 to get it cleaned properly. The pathway is used very often by children and elderly folk.”

Since they’re typical of complaints we get after every snowfall, we ran them past Hector Moreno, a city road operations managers and a cheerful master at schooling us on how things work.

On the Charles St. complaint, he cited subsection 719-2A of the Toronto Municipal Code: “Every owner or occupant of any building must, within 12 hours after any fall of snow, rain or hail has ceased, clear away and completely remove snow and ice from any sidewalk on any highway in front of, alongside or at the rear of the building.”

Sidewalk plows don’t have room to operate on many inner-city streets, said Moreno, so the onus is on property owners - even a municipal agency like Hydro - to comply with the bylaw.

While some residents in suburban areas serviced by sidewalk plows may want the operator to lift the blade while passing their home, Moreno says they’re required to plow continuously.

“We have liability issues requiring us to plow sidewalks in areas where we’ve taken on that responsibility,” he said.

On the inevitable gouging of turf next to sidewalks, the operator can’t always see the edges because of the snow cover, he said, adding there’ll always be some damage when the ground isn’t frozen.

But it’s important to note that boulevards and a small strip of land adjacent to sidewalk in front of every property is part of the road allowance. So the damage is actually to city property, even if residents take care of it as if it was their own.

As for the uncleared pathway between Markham and Robbinstone, Moreno said he thinks it’s been overlooked and will have it checked out right away.