by Colin Smith
Morinville is changing the way it does snow clearing at least in part due to residents making their views known.
At its regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9, the council approved an amended snow and ice control policy that lowers the threshold at which snow clearing begins on residential roadways from an accumulation of 15 centimetres to 12 centimetres.
The administration recommended the service level change to the council at a meeting in May 2023, and it was incorporated into this year’s budget.
According to Infrastructure Services Manager Jordan Betteridge, the cost of the move will be about $30,000.
The additional cost will be mainly due to paying for additional contracted trucking hours to work through more snow clearings.
This amendment reverses the direction of Morinville snow clearance policies, which went from a five-centimetre threshold in 2013 to a 5-10 centimetre threshold and then to 15 centimetres in 2020.
Betteridge said the past moves were driven by financial considerations, with the rise to 15 centimetres as a cost-control measure following an above-average snowfall season.
A survey done last March to gain feedback from residents about their satisfaction with the snow program received more than 500 responses.
Of the survey respondents, 67 per cent supported a higher service level, with clearing beginning at less snow accumulation.
A 12-centimetre threshold was opted for by 66% of those who wanted a higher service level, while 34% favoured a threshold of 10 centimetres.
The survey included the costs of improved service, based on an average snowfall, of $33,000 for a 12-centimetre threshold and $74,000 for a 10-centimetre threshold.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Councillor Scott Richardson asked Betteridge if the snow clearance threshold had been chosen because of the public engagement that took place.
Betteridge affirmed that the engagement was a factor. He noted that the policy is a balance between what residents desire and what is achievable in budgetary terms.
“I’m glad to see that the decision is based on feedback from residents,” said Deputy Mayor Jen Anheliger.
In addition to increased resident satisfaction, the potential advantages of a higher snow service standard are fewer staff hours spent on resident complaints, less equipment damage resulting from dealing with ice rather than snow, safer roads, easier ice build-up management on sidewalks, and reduced impact of spring melt.
Other changes to the policy include a clause allowing for an operational response to extraordinary road conditions, such as the “oatmeal” snow that develops with warm mid-winter temperatures.
The administration will determine the presence of conditions affecting critical operations based on feedback from emergency services, school buses, postal services and the number of residents/commuter vehicles unable to make headway on the roads.
A further change was the removal of the colour coding from the snow clearance priority and zone system map in a bylaw appendix because the zone colours made it difficult to see the priority roadways.
Council members voted unanimously to approve the Snow and Ice Control Policy.
