Newmarket continues search for snow dump alternative

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 3, 2015
By Chris Simon

Newmarket staff continues its search for alternatives to dumping snow at the Ray Twinney Recreation Complex in the cold months ahead.

Council received an update during a meeting last week on the municipality’s plans for snow storage for the 2015-2016 winter season.

This comes months after councillors asked staff to look for new places to put excess snow from the municipality’s downtown core, parking lots, courts and sidewalks, which has been trucked to Ray Twinney for more than one decade.

“The snowfalls and accumulation has necessitated the requirement to move snow from certain areas...that have limited storage,” public works services director Christopher Kalimootoo said, in the report. (Ray Twinney) is large with an impermeable surface and easy access.

Other sites previously utilized have had more environmentally stringent guidelines in place, making Ray Twinney more viable, Kalimootoo said.

Staff has unsuccessfully asked other York municipalities to accept Newmarket snow and the region has offered to lend the town a portable melting machine.

However, the machine would cost about $4,000 each day to run and it needs to be set up at Ray Twinney, due to the high volume of effluent it creates.

Staff also discussed potential snow storage opportunities with private landowners, though no final agreements have been reached, Kalimootoo said.

In February, Councillor Christina Bisanz called for an immediate end to snow dumping at Ray Twinney, a practise utilized when significant accumulation builds up and leaves municipal road maintenance crews with few other options.

Ray Twinney’s oil and grit separators remove sediment and debris from storm water. However, neighbouring residents have expressed concerns since last year, largely because municipal trucks create noise and children regularly had to be kicked off snow hills for safety reasons.

Town staff is working with York Region on the development of a joint-use site along Harry Walker Parkway but it  likely won’t be ready in time for the upcoming season, Kalimootoo said.

“There have been preliminary discussions and planning meetings, however the site has not been developed,” he said.

Council allocated $100,000 toward the selection, design and use of an alternative storage site in the 2015 capital budget.

The town is also looking at bumping up its winter maintenance budget by $93,000 next year, to piggyback on a region plan to contract snow removal and disposal in the Davis Drive area.