Clearing the snow could be an issue again in Mississauga this winter

Insauga.com
Sept. 26, 2023
Declan Finucane

With winter around the corner, Mississauga officials are reminding residents who need help clearing the snow from the bottom of their driveways that the time to sign up for the service is now.

The City of Mississauga’s Driveway Windrow Snow Clearing Program invites residents aged 65 and over and those with a physical disability to apply to get help clearing windrows, the pile of hard-packed snow (and ice) left at the end of driveways after the street has been plowed.

Those interested in the service can apply online or in person at any community centre in Mississauga. The cost is $200 (non-refundable) for the season or free for those who meet financial assistance criteria.

For more information, residents can call 311.

Back in the spring, an $11.6-million plan that would clear the large, heavy walls of snow and ice from the vast majority of residential driveways in Mississauga was turned down by city council.

The vote count was 7-5 against adopting the winter maintenance plan tabled by City staff that would have seen Mississauga become the fourth GTA municipality to provide city-wide windrow-clearing services.

Toronto, Vaughan and Richmond Hill are currently the only municipalities to do so. Mississauga is one of a half-dozen GTA municipalities that provides limited windrow services.

The matter of windrows became a big issue last winter when several storms left numbers of people in Mississauga trapped in their homes, unable to clear the windrows themselves.

Mayor Bonnie Crombie and several councillors said at the time that they fielded more windrow complaints from residents than ever before last winter.

Citing huge costs, city council on several occasions over the years has given the thumbs down to plans that would clear the windrows across Mississauga.

Currently, the City clears windrows for 350 eligible applicants, mostly seniors and/or those with accessibility challenges, within 36 hours of the end of a snowstorm.

Windrows have been a significant source of growing public frustration in recent years that hit new heights last winter, culminating in several isolated incidents in which angry residents attacked Mississauga snow plow drivers and their machines.