Aurora to review snow plow standards, from 8 cm back to 5 cm

YorkRegion.com
Feb. 6, 2017
Amanda Persico

Snow removal is a municipal must, up there with waste collection, water services and road maintenance.

“These are core issues we have to provide and do it right,” said Coun. Michael Thompson during a recent council meeting.

“Otherwise, we hear about it.”

And councillors are hearing from residents the town’s winter maintenance levels are not up to par.

The town sends plows out when there is about 8 centimetres on the ground – except for Yonge Street, which is plowed after 5 cm.

Major thoroughfares such as Orchard Heights Boulevard or John West War are plowed first, followed by secondary or side streets.

Municipalities such as Newmarket, King Township and Vaughan have a 5 cm standard, in Markham it is 7.5 cm and in East Gwillimbury it’s 8 cm.

At the region, snow plows are deployed as soon as snow begins to accumulate on the roads.

Some Aurora councillors want to see a return to the 5 cm standard.

“The town lowered service levels but residents are still paying the same amount,” said Coun. Tom Mrakas. “We are supposed to provide the best possible service for the best possible price.”

Whether roads are plowed at 5 cm or 8 cm, the issue is not having enough man hours to get the plows out and the roads clean, said town CAO Doug Nadorozny.

“A 5 cm service means the start of the storm would have better service and the tail end of the storm would be worse, because we run out of man hours," he said.

The main issues include contracting out snow plows on a standby basis or enhancing the town’s own winter maintenance crew.

Mrakas questioned why winter maintenance hasn’t been brought up in the budget process.

“Do we need extra crew? De we need an extra plow?” said Mrakas, who pushed to have winter maintenance as part of the 2017 budget.

“Why don’t we have these resources and why didn’t we hear about this until now?”

Town council voted down the notion of returning to a 5 cm standard and instead opted to send the town’s winter maintenance program to the town’s financial advisory committee for review.