(rdnewsNOW/Troy Gillard)

By Troy Gillard

Complaints pile up

City to look at improving residential snow plowing while keeping costs the same

Oct 15, 2019 | 7:39 PM

While things have overall improved since the “Snowmageddon” of 2014, The City of Red Deer continues to hear that more needs to be done when it comes to residential snow plowing.

As such, city council approved a motion on Tuesday directing administration to “look at workable improvements for Grey routes in the 2019-20 season and potential improvements for the three-year operational plan.”

Councillor Vesna Higham wanted administration to report specifically on how much it would cost to have Grey Routes plowed down to bare pavement, with one windrow, following a 7-centimetres trigger and within a 25-30 day period. But after a lengthy discussion, council opted instead to approve the broader motion.

Higham, who has lived in Red Deer for 25 years and served six years on city council, said she has never heard more public complaints about residential snow plowing than she did last winter.

Last snow season marked the fourth year of the fully phased-in Snow and Ice Control Program that was completely overhauled in the wake of overwhelming amount of snow that walloped our city five winters ago. Most notably, the new program saw the implementation of 11 snow zones, identified by letters A-K. Green Routes (collector roads and bus routes) and Grey Routes (residential streets) are plowed once the snow pack reaches 10 centimetres.

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Council heard Tuesday that the program is working well when it comes to plowing major roadways, downtown and industrial areas, and that the level of service for Green routes is good. The city also received 30% fewer calls last winter requesting snow and ice control services.

But there remains a great deal of dissatisfaction among residents, say the councillors who hear consistently from them, when it comes to Grey Routes.

Something that continues to hinder residential snow plowing, council heard, is vehicles left parked on streets that are scheduled to be plowed. This despite the fact that ticket infractions were down by 23% last winter for parking on Grey Routes (2971 tickets to 2279) and by 50% on Green routes (310 tickets to 154) during plowing.

“Simply put, parked vehicles on plow routes costs thousands of dollars to the snow and ice program in operational delays,” council heard. “Even with multiple modes of communication to inform the public of our programs, some motorists fail to remove their vehicles from the roadways. This practice slows our program and creates public discontent.”

The report also noted that fewer residents were motivated to move their vehicles due to a reduction in parking fines ($65, increasing to $135 if a vehicle is towed).

The city will be doing public engagement this winter to gather more feedback regarding the city’s program. There will also be a campaign to promote the “Notify Red Deer” alert system which gives residents who have signed up for it a heads up as to when snow clearing will be taking place in their zone. Last winter there were 12,000 residents subscribed to Notify Red Deer, a 20% increase over the previous year.

The 2019 IPSOS Reid Citizen Satisfaction Survey showed 61% of respondents were satisfied with snow and ice removal, marking a 3% drop from the previous year.

Red Deer received 171.5 centimetres of snow last winter, which is 30 centimetres more than the city’s historical average.

The City of Red Deer is projected to spend $5.4 million on snow and ice control in 2019, slightly more than the budgeted $5.3 million.