Brampton exploring ways to improve snow and ice removal

Thestar.com
July 5, 2019
Graeme Frisque

Brampton council is exploring ways to improve snow and ice removal across Canada’s ninth-largest city after admitting last year’s services weren’t up to par.

One of the areas council has asked staff to look into is the amount of time residents have to clear sidewalks in front of their homes before the city dispatches a third-party contractor and issues steep fines and charges up to $2,000.

Current bylaws require property owners in some areas of the city to remove snow and ice from sidewalks or walkways adjacent to their properties by 11 a.m. the day after a major winter storm.

If not done, the city dispatches a bylaw officer to issue a notice of compliance before a certain time. If the snow and ice still aren’t removed by that time, the property owner is fined and charged on their tax bill.

“In addition to our request to staff to address snow clearing service levels on streets and roads . . . Council also provided direction to have staff explore whether or not the city should require sidewalks are cleared sooner than the 24-hour time frame,” said Councillor Paul Vicente (Wards 1 and 5).

The city said it received more than 2,000 complaints of uncleared sidewalks this past winter, with several of those receiving hefty fines.

Roughly a dozen residents delegated to council in the spring asking for their fines and charges to be removed on compassionate grounds, but council ultimately decided that wouldn’t be fair to those who dutifully cleared their sidewalks all winter. There was also concern over the precedent waiving the fines would set.

“Members of council decided that the charges and fees should remain in place. If we waived the charges and fees, we would be discouraging law-abiding citizens from following the rules,” Vicente said.

Other measures under consideration to improve winter maintenance include reducing the plowing threshold in residential areas to five centimetres from seven centimetres, and possibly switching from using contractors to a full-time, in-house winter/summer maintenance department.

Council will receive a staff report with recommendations in the fall.