The current practice of allowing residents to petition that their street’s sidewalks be maintained during the winter months will also be removed

No sidewalk will be overlooked in an upcoming review of snow removal practices by the City’s public works department.

City staff estimate that 12 to 15 kilometres of sidewalk will be removed from the list of streets in which winter sidewalk maintenance is currently conducted, as result of a new policy approved by councillors during tonight's city council meeting.

Larry Girardi, commissioner of Public Works and Transportation (PWT), said a reduction in sidewalk snow removal will make the work easier for staff to handle and will require less overtime and savings in equipment.

“I have come to this council more than once and said ‘we are at our max doing sidewalks. We need to start doing some reduction,’” said Girardi during tonight’s city council meeting.

Currently, the City’s budget for sidewalk snow removal is approximately $610,000 per year.

In 2014, the department operated at $350,000 over budget for the 232 kilometres of sidewalk it maintained at the time.

New criteria will be applied to determine which streets should have sidewalk snow removal — including those in the area of schools and senior homes, as well those along transit routes and high traffic areas, such as downtown.

In addition, all residential streets which have sidewalks on both sides of the street will only be plowed on one side, as selected on an individual basis ‘to include a smooth sidewalk transportation network,’ the report reads.

During the meeting, Ward 4 councillor Rick Niro asked Girardi for clarification.

“So it could be possible that a street that (currently) has one sidewalk maintained could end up with no sidewalk?” asked Niro.

Girardi replied, “absolutely. Very much so.”

The current practice of allowing residents to petition that their street’s sidewalks be maintained during the winter months will also be removed.

Two to five petition requests are presented a year, reads the report.

Instead, requests will be considered against the new policy. If the requested street does not fit the criteria it will not be approved.

The new policy will go into effect in 2017, the same year four schools in the City are slated to close— St. Bernadette’s, St. Pius, St. Ann’s and St. Theresa’s — and will likely result in less sidewalk plowing in their surrounding neighbourhood.

PWT estimates a cost savings of $40,000 annually as result of the new policy and will eliminate the need for expanding the department’s fleet — estimated at $60,000 in labour and $180,000 in equipment.

Ward 1 councillor Paul Christian lauded the efforts of PWT staff.

“There’s going to be people who aren’t going to be particularly happy if a certain sidewalk is removed, but I do think it’s a healthy process that we go through. This is a good example of how a department can look at the way they are doing things and become current,” said Christian.