Windrow clearing woes top complaint, Markham councillor says

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 24, 2015
By Amanda Persico

A Markham city councillor says the city should stop the practice of clearing windrows - that pile of snow left at the end of a driveway after a city plow has passed.

Instead, homeowners should get private contractors to do the job and then get a rebate from the city.

Unionville Councillor Don Hamilton says the city’s program is not working and brings an avalanche of complaints.

“We should get out of the windrow business,” Hamilton said during a recent council workshop on winter maintenance. “It’s not successful. It’s not working. We get more complaints about windrows than any other complaint.”

Eligible residents - those 60 or older without anyone else in the household age 12 to 60 who is physically able to remove snow - must re-apply each year.

And each year, the need for the service piles higher.

Around 3,200 residents requested windrow clearing in 2014-15, up 300 from the previous winter.

It costs the city about $75 per household to remove a windrow.

If there is any damage left behind to driveways residents are required to foot the bill.

Toronto offers a windrow removal program in certain neighbourhoods while Richmond Hill provides the service for seniors, similar to Markham.

Vaughan provides a citywide windrow removal service.

If Markham were to follow Vaughan’s lead, it would cost about $4 million a winter, those at the workshop were told.

Hamilton wants to see a windrow rebate program for eligible residents who hire contractors to clear the windrow.

“Let’s get out of the windrow business and put (windrows) into the hands of contractors,” he said.

Meanwhile, the city is reviewing its current snow standards.

As it is, the city’s winter maintenance costs increase year after year, because of new roads, service level changes and the cost of road salt, said city operations manager Morgan Jones.

The city spent about $4.6 million in 2012, $8.63 million in 2013, $9.31 million in 2014 and $6.78 million so far in 2015 with snow still to come between now and New Year’s.

“Winter maintenance in the budget is just a spot holder,” Jones said. “Service doesn’t stop because we reached the budget (amount). We continue until service levels are achieved.”

City staff have now studied sending crews out to clear snow off sidewalks at the 5 cm mark instead of 7.5 cm of accumulation.

This is estimated to cost an additional $1.8 million each year, which equates to a 1.35 per cent tax rate increase.

Providing this service to local roads where there is no sidewalk would be prohibitive as there are 200 km of local roads without sidewalks scattered across the city.

Staff also looked at the costs of clearing local streets to a bare surface instead of allowing for snow-packed roads, adding another $6 million to the winter maintenance budget.

In order to have a bare surface there needs to be a high volume of traffic that could carry salt and brine across the road.

Without high volumes of traffic along local roads, salt is ineffective, Jones said.

Regardless of service enhancement, Markham’s public works yard capacity for snow, salt and snow removal storage is an issue, Jones said.

Markham’s public works yard is about 4 hectares compared to almost 10 hectares in Vaughan.

New this year is the online plow tracking system.

Residents will be able to go to the city’s website and phone app to see which roads have been plowed.

The city’s plow trucks, sidewalk and windrow plows as well as sand and salt trucks, will be equipped with an little black box that feeds information to the city’s website.

There, residents will be able to locate their street, see the road classification, winter service level and when work was completed.

City streets are plowed in order of traffic volume. Arterial roads are done first, followed by primary, secondary and local roads, cul-de-sacs, rear lanes and then sidewalks.

A staff report detailing an alternative windrow plowing program for 2016-17 as well as a plan for plowing pathways and park areas is expected in the spring.

WINDROW DETAILS

Crews are dispatched to clear the centre portion of the windrows - one car width only - following a 7.5 cm (3 inch) snowfall.

The goal is for windrows to be cleared within eight hours after crews plow the road.

The city reserves the right to decide when snow windrow service will take place. The windrow left from the sidewalk plow is not included in the service.

To qualify for the program, all individual(s) residing in the household must be 60 years or older (proof of age is required) with any children in the household being under 12. If any members of the household are between 12 and 60, a current and valid doctor’s certificate confirming they are physically unable to clear snow must be provided.

Source: markham.ca