Vancouver mulls higher budget, more fines after snow response review

CTVNews.ca
July 26, 2017
Kendra Mangione

A review of the City of Vancouver's response to an unusually snowy winter has staff suggesting council free up more funds for road maintenance and revisit old penalties for rule breakers.

The city's general manager of engineering services submitted a report to city council on Wednesday suggesting several changes be made to prevent issues that arouse during the winter of 2016-17.

The report, dated June 27 but presented a month later, suggested city councillors approve a motion that would more than double the annual snow clearing budget from $780,000 to $1.62 million.

"What we learned last year is the expectations were higher than the level of response that's in our plan," said Jerry Dobrovolny, the general manager of engineering services.

The budget would also require a $4.3 million one-time capital investment, the report said. Of the investment, $2.5 million would be paid back to the equipment and facility loan accounts with money already allocated in the annual operating budget.

"Primarily, we're looking at additional attachments to existing pieces of equipment, so it's not necessarily a huge increase in fleet," Dobrovolny said.

The report shows staffers propose upgrading 10 small dump trucks and four municipal utility vehicles and acquiring six sidewalk snow blowers to be used on park paths and sidewalks. Dobrovolny also suggests increasing the deployment of winter tires on non-commercial city vehicles, and equipping all larger city vehicles with chains.

It also suggests installing more traffic cameras to help prioritize snow clearing routes in event of a storm.
The city was criticized for a shortage of road salt, but the new plan includes nearly $1.3 million for salt storage expansion.

"We have to deal with extreme weather and that's really tough on the budgeting side," Mayor Gregor Robertson said.

"We have to have bigger contingencies and be prepared for greater extremes."

The report also outlined issues enforcing bylaws that apply to residential property owners, particularly when it came to the removal of snow and ice from sidewalks. Owners are required to clear snow and ice from the full width of sidewalks adjacent to their properties by 10 a.m. every day, but issuing tickets is a labour-intensive process requiring multiple trips.

Staff will review the current bylaw and existing enforcement system and will issue further recommendations in the fall, the report said.

The report also suggests amending another city bylaw that would allow officials to fine drivers on the road in poor conditions without winter tires.

If approved, signs would be installed at entry points to the city advising drivers of the change, and a public education campaign would be issued at the same time as city tax receipts.

The report does not include specific details on the proposed changes to tire rules, suggesting further review before amendments to Bylaw No. 2849 are made.

WINTER 2016-17 BY THE NUMBERS

The city report also revealed exactly how abnormal the most recent winter was for Vancouver. The amount of salt disbursed was 474 per cent higher in 2016-17 than the annual average calculated over 10 years.

On average, the city uses 3,165 tonnes each winter, but needed 15,000 this time.
The number of calls made to the city between October and March via 311 was up 221 per cent from the six year average, from 8,800 to 19,500.

The number of tickets issued was up from the nine-year average of 2,249 to 9,266 in 2016-17, an increase of 412 per cent.

The total amount of money spent on engineering services was up 1,000 per cent, from an average of $1.09 million per winter to $11.64 million this year.

The report also showed average response time for snow removal ranked by priority. For high-priority roads, emergency routes, hills, transit routes, bike lanes and pathways, the response was up to 12 hours after the end of a snowfall.

For the lowest priority routes, including sidewalks, parks, side streets and other areas, it took crews up to seven days to plow.

The entire report can be read online on the city's website.