Rocky View County (RVC) council approved a motion to maintain the status quo for sidewalk snow removal in the county for this year at the council meeting on Nov. 5.
However, councillors entertained the idea of changing the policy in the next budget cycle.
Sidewalks within residential areas will continue to be cleared by County services, while clearing sidewalks adjacent to commercial and industrial areas is the responsibility of the landowner.
“Removing this service at this time does not seem to be the more prudent way at reducing more maintenance costs,” said RVC Maintenance Manager Howard Bell to council, adding the service cost about $25,000 to run throughout the County last year.
Howard noted that at the June Infrastructure and Operations Committee meeting this year, administration recommended snow removal for residential properties also become the responsibility of landowners.
He added that administration has since “reversed their stance.”
“The recommendation today, is let’s move forward under the 2013 budget strategy with status quo, which is doing what we did last year and through the early part of 2013,” said General Manager of Infrastructure and Operations Byron Riemann.
“Should council, through the budget process of 2014, decide to change the level of service, that is a discussion we could have at that time,” Riemann added.
Balzac-area Councillor Lois Habberfield agreed with administration.
“This year perhaps we should go ahead with what we have, but I think we should have the discussion through the budget process if this is a service we’re going to provide or if we can ask everybody to help out by doing their own chunk of pavement,” said Habberfield.
Communications Manager Grant Kaiser said, “sidewalks are not common in RVC.”
“RVC has no business tax, and it is considered reasonable to ask non-residential property owners to clear their own sidewalks.”
Kaiser added residential sidewalks cleared by the County are located in Langdon and Bragg Creek, and the sidewalks in East Balzac are cleared by property owners because they are adjacent to commercial properties.
“Currently, the number of residential sidewalks and the cost of clearing them is relatively small. If the number of sidewalks grows, the costs will grow,” he said.
Kaiser said the County currently spends about $1.9 million a year on snow removal for roads.
Arterial roads, which are travelled by more than 500 vehicles per day, are the first priority and equipment is dispatched at the start of or prior to any snowfall, said Kaiser.
Collector roads, which see between 200 and 499 vehicles per day, are second priority, followed by local roads.
He added roads that are not maintained, which are used for agricultural purposes, are cleared by request “once all other plowing is completed.”
