'We simply ask for people’s patience': Orangeville responds to complaints about sidewalk, road clearing after ice storm

Yorkregion.com
April 19, 2018
Chris Halliday

Faced with complaints about inadequate sidewalk and road plowing, town officials are asking Orangeville residents to be patient as staff continue to work on clearing walkways following this week's winter storm.

“It has been much, much slower and much less effective clearing than it usually would be,” Doug Jones, Orangeville’s director of public works, told the Banner late Thursday afternoon, April 19.

“This was a much, much more difficult mix of snow, rain and ice pellets,” he added. “We're still working on it. We're still out there to keep as many (sidewalks) as clear as we can.”

The Dufferin County and surrounding area was hit by an unusually late winter storm starting on Saturday and running into Monday. The result of the storm, which began as ice pellets and transitioned into freezing rain, left many roads and sidewalks in Orangeville covered with thick blocks of ice.

Since the town retains seasonal staff to clear sidewalks between Dec. 1 and March 31, Jones explained the municipality has fewer staff available to undertake the work. In addition to being short-staffed, it has taken longer than usual to complete.

“We’ve tried to focus on (sidewalks) along the main roads and near schools for the most part. It has been very slow going. Just the nature of the storm that we got, with these ice pellets mixed with rain seemed to freeze solid immediately,” Jones said.

“I think certainly anybody who has tried to clear a driveway this past week recognizes this was a fairly-unique event,” he added. “It has just made for a very challenging week.”

The same can be said for workers plowing the roads. Part of what has made clearing roads more difficult is the number of people that have left their vehicles parked on the street, Jones explained.

“There have been areas where roads, we simply couldn’t get down because of parked cars,” he said. “Eighty residents have to suffer because three people decide they are going to park on the road and we simply can’t get a plow down it. That has made it much more challenging.”

When asked if he’d like to relay any message to those who’ve labelled this week’s sidewalk clearing as inadequate, Jones asked for residents to be patient. He said crews have been working very long hours since Saturday doing their best to get all roads and sidewalks cleared.

"We simply ask for people’s patience,” Jones said. “I’m glad to see that the weather is going to be warming up over the next few days. That should soften stuff up to allow up to remove a bit more of it, or for it to just melt on its own.”