Every morning on school days, Okotoks resident Catina Despotopoulos, a single mother, walks her daughter and two other children along Woodhaven Drive to Big Rock School.
Early last week, as she neared the intersection of Woodhaven Drive and Southridge Drive, she was faced with a nearly one-metre high wall of snow blocking the entrances to the pedestrian crosswalks.
A heavy snowfall had taken place two days earlier, but the snow banks had yet to be cleared, Despotopoulos said.
Nearby, Despotopoulos noticed a mother with a stroller who couldn’t get over the curb either. The woman was forced to continue walking along Southridge Drive before she could find an opening in the snow bank to cross the street.
After filing a complaint with Okotoks’ public works department, Despotopoulos found the snow banks were cleared the next morning, but the timing of the snow removal could be improved, she observed.
“The guy was out there scraping snow while the kids were out of school, so not a very safe situation,” she said.
Now that the snow has been cleared, however, Despotopoulos found a new problem lurking underneath: ice.
This is Despotopoulos’s first winter in Okotoks as she recently moved from Quebec where she said she found snow and ice removal to be much more efficient.
“In Quebec, they come around during the night when there’s the least amount of traffic and pedestrians,” she explained, adding they also sand and salt the roads immediately when ice becomes an issue.
Despotopoulos’s suggestion to the Town of Okotoks is to ask the public for suggestions on how they can better meet residents’ snow removal needs.
“My wish list is for town council to educate themselves a little more about what other parts of the country are doing about snow removal and to pick up some of those ideas,” she said.
“Is the quality of snow clearing good in the town? I would say no,” Despotopoulos added. “But, in the same token, there obviously isn’t the equipment here to deal with it.”
Okotoks’ operations manager Dave Robertson said this year’s early snowfall and cold snap was unusual and that it complicates snow and ice removal.
“Part of the problem is that we had rain which then turned to snow, so there is a bottom layer of ice on the roads that sheeted everything in town,” he explained.
Robertson said the Town is still working on removing the icy remnants on the main arterial roads.
In response to Despotopoulos’s concerns, Robertson said the removal of snow banks blocking crosswalks will happen and that it’s just a matter of time.
“They are working through all of them,” he said. “It’s really slow going.”
The Town’s snow removal budget this year is roughly $250,000, Robertson said.
Prior to the most recent major snowfall, spending was on budget, but that will likely change according to Robertson.
“Now we’re probably going to have to be tapping into our operating reserve,” he said, estimating an additional $10,000 to $20,000 in snow removal spending by the end of the year, depending on the weather. This year’s operating reserve is $50,000, he said.
In comparing Okotoks to other snowed-in Canadian communities, Robertson said he believes the Town fairs well.
“We hear (the argument) from both sides,” Robertson said. “We hear that every street should be cleared because this is my tax dollar, and then we hear the other side, which is why are you spending tax dollars when you know a Chinook is coming.
“But I would say we’re fairly efficient tax-dollar wise.”
Despotopoulos said she often hears her neighbours joke about the need for a Chinook wind to come through town and melt the snow.
“I’m still waiting for this mysterious Chinook to come through,” she joked.
Snow removal was also the hot button issue at the Town of Black Diamond’s council meeting Dec. 1.
At the meeting, a Black Diamond resident complained to council he had spent several hours clearing his sidewalk along Centre Avenue and Government Road only to have a snowplow drive along and cover the sidewalk all over again.
On Monday, public works manager Andy Pfeifer responded the Town of Black Diamond is aware of the problem on those two roads.
Sections of Centre Avenue and Government Street are part of the provincial highway, Pfeifer explained. Therefore, maintenance contractors with large snowplows often unintentionally blow the snow up onto the curb along those roads.
Pfeifer said several years ago the Town realized it was unfair to expect those businesses to continue to remove snow off their curbs and made the decision to assist them with sidewalk snow removal.
However, Pfeifer said the Town is still working on how to execute that plan efficiently.
According to bylaw, Black Diamond residents and businesses have 24 hours to remove the snow on their sidewalks following a snowfall, Pfeifer said.
