Plow leaves 6-foot windrow on corner lot in Thornhill

Norman Clayton says a snow pile left on his corner lot is a danger to pedestrians, drivers

Yorkregion.com
February 1, 2019
Aileen Zangouei

The evening of Jan. 28 saw 10 to 15 cm of snowfall across parts of York Region, and this means "danger" to a resident of Thornhill.

Norman Clayton of Thornhill lives at a corner house on Apricot Street and said he always get an unusual amount of snow piled at the side of his lot. He said the snowplows come around and leave piles of snow that are close to six feet tall.

"It's dangerous," said Clayton, adding that he's concerned for the safety of pedestrians while cars are coming around the corner.

"People cannot see cars coming around the corners and drivers cannot see pedestrians," he said.

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Clayton has contacted the City of Markham and suggested the snowplows leave the snow in the middle of road, which, according to him, is how it was done two years ago.

Alice Lam, Markham's manager of roads operations, told York Region Media Group that she received Clayton's suggestion. However, putting the snow in the middle of the road would impact public safety and oncoming traffic since Clayton's property is not a dead-end, Lam said.

Clayton's lot is on the inside corner, which Lam said is where the snowplows put snow for safety. "We will engage our contractor to distribute the snow evenly along the curb," Lam said.

"Unfortunately, all snow is plowed to the right and those that live on an inside corner do receive larger amounts of snow," it read on Markham.ca's "winter operations frequently asked questions sheet."

Another solution is that in situations where snow piles become too high, the city's roads operations will call a loader and put the pile into a dump truck to haul the snow off site.

"Residents can call the city contact centre and it will create a work order, and the right department will be operated from there to adjust the site right away," Lam said.

The city contact centre for Markham is 905-477-5530 or customerservice@markham.ca.