Winter Snow

On November 22, 2021, Council adopted a new Snow and Ice Control Policy and Snow Removal Windrow Clearing Policy to provide a clear framework for how we deliver snow and ice control services.

The goal of these policies is to ensure the City offers consistent, efficient, and sustainable services to the community.

Read through our November 2021 report to Council, here.

View the presentation to Council here.

Highlights of the Snow & Ice Control Policy

7 day a Week Service

• More snow clearing on weekends, creating a balanced approach to snow management throughout the entire week.
• New staffing shifts allow crews work from 4am until midnight.
• Downtown centre-plow windrows can now be cleared on weekends.

Curb-to-Curb Approach

• We use a curb-to-curb approach to clear snow from streets, while following a prioritization framework. This approach clears driving lanes and on-street parking lanes on the first pass, and minimizes the number of windows created.

Full Plow Triggered by 5cm of Snow

• When 5 cm of snow is the forecast or accumulated (on the ground), all hands are on deck to clear snow. You can expect to see our graders, loaders, sanders, sidewalk machines, downtown blower, and dump trucks out on the streets working to clear roads, sidewalks and remove centre plows.
• With light snow falls (less than 5 cm) you can expect to see belly plows plowing and sanding around town, and sidewalk machines clearing sidewalks.

For more information about how snow and ice management services are provided by the City of Fernie, visit our Snow Clearing web page.

Have questions about the service?

Read our Snow Clearing FAQ for answers to frequently asked questions.

Highlights of the Windrow Clearing Program

• The windrow clearing program now operates 7 days a week. Previously, windrow services were not being provided on weekends or statutory holidays, which significantly delayed the service.
• We’ve changed the language in our policy to make it easier to follow and set clearer expectations for those that receive this service. Approved residents can expect on a typical snowfall requiring a full plow response that their driveway snow windrow will be cleared within 48 hours and is dependent on:

a. Availability of equipment and staffing

b. Size of snowfall

c. Available service budget

For more information about the Windrow Removal Program, visit our Windrow Clearing web page.

Work in Progress

All polices and bylaws require continual and regular review to ensure the City remains responsive to changing needs of the community. Snow and Ice Control touches on many areas of the organization and more work is needed in related areas to ensure the success of these policies.

Next steps for ongoing work include:

Bylaw Enforcement for Snow and Ice Control – Work on potential enforcement strategies is underway and proposed solutions will be brought forward to Council in early 2022.

Delivery of Snow and Ice Control at Leased Municipal Facilities – Services provided to leased facilities are determined by individual lease agreements. A lease review for municipal facilities has been delayed due to pandemic response, therefore these services have been excluded from the core snow and ice control policy. Further work is needed to renew these lease agreements.

Driveway Access Permits - Regulating driveway widths and proximity of driveways to intersections with the introduction of driveway access permits will ensure safety and maintain adequate frontage and city boulevard space intended for city snow storage.

Residential Laneway Snow Clearing – The new snow and ice control policy includes the clearing of commercial laneways, with some residential laneways cleared by individual residents who have a specific interest in accessing a laneway during winter. Work is needed to implement a residential laneway clearing application process to ensure correct placement of snow, adequate drainage, and include an appropriate waiver.

Snow and Ice Control in New Development Areas - Further work is required to effectively trigger delivery of snow and ice control services at specific points of development. For example, if active building permits are issued, occupancy permit issued, full road services to align with city ownership of infrastructure and no hold backs with developer.

Downtown Snow and Ice Control - More work is needed to explore service and funding options to better coordinate City snow and ice services with snow and ice services provided by the downtown business community. Collaboration with stakeholder groups can address the current challenges.

Snow Dumps - A review of current snow dump locations, snow dump management practices and identification of future snow dump locations is needed to meet operating requirements.

Service Delivery through Staffing - Shift scheduling and use of temporary seasonal operators requires ongoing monitoring and consideration to optimize approach throughout the winter season and in the years to come.

Report an Issue

The Request for Service tool is an online form for residents to report non-emergency maintenance issues such as potholes or broken streetlights.

Residents can submit Snow and Ice related service requests for any services the City of Fernie provides as outlined in the Snow and Ice Control Policy or Snow Plow Windrow Policy.

Please understand that during a snow event, it may take multiple days for snow clearing crews to complete their routes.

Report an issue using our Request for Service tool.

Service requests are reviewed daily and assigned accordingly. Residents can expect to receive an update to their service requests within 7 business days.

If you have feedback or requests for issues not covered by the Snow and Ice Control Policy, send an email to: snow@fernie.ca

Recap

In 2019 the City of Fernie began a review of it's snow management services. After identifying areas for improving our service, we launched a Snow Pilot Program in February 2020. Through this process we aim to create a sustainable approach to snow management, improving the overall service to the community.

Throughout the pilot we trialed a prioritization approach to snow clearing, providing consistent access to critical infrastructure and emergency services. We listened to your feedback, took notes, and gathered critical data to make informed, defensible, and transparent decisions around resources and snow management budgeting.

Where are we now?

With new approaches tested, we’ve now analyzed the data and are requesting direction from Mayor and Council at tonight’s Regular Meeting of Council, Monday October 25, 2021.

Under Mayor and Council’s direction, the City of Fernie will finalize the Snow & Ice Management policy, with plans for the policy to be adopted at a Regular Meeting of Council in November 2021.

Stay tuned to the City of Fernie website, the Let's Talk project page, and the City of Fernie Facebook page for updates on how we develop and roll out our new Snow & Ice Management service.

Attendance at the February 2020 Public Open House event brought a crowd of approximately 50 residents throughout the two-hour evening event. The event was set up with storyboards describing why the City was reviewing the service area and detailing the prioritization framework, the project timeline, what residents could expect for the operational pilot, how they could provide their feedback throughout, how we planned to evaluate the pilot, and requesting specific feedback. The storyboard package can be viewed here. The following themes emerged from the Public Open House on February 25th and from feedback submitted via email:

• People overall were in support of the prioritization framework. Many indicated they very much liked the high priority for emergency services and the inclusion of sidewalk routes, especially those in high pedestrian traffic areas, and in those areas where physical separation is lacking or where there is no sidewalk infrastructure and pedestrians use the roadway.
• Safety was a general theme throughout, including many requests to lower speed limits during the winter, and concerns surrounding the interface between pedestrian corridors and high vehicle traffic areas.
• Many expressed dissatisfaction with existing services for active transportation in the winter and were in support of efforts to enhance access to active transportation in winter seasons.
• There was a common perception that services are not consistent across neighbourhoods. People were happy to see that equitable service delivery was a primary objective of the pilot concept.
• A common comment was a desire to see more snow clearing at intersections to enhance sight lines for both pedestrians and vehicles and also to enhance pedestrian access to sidewalks at intersections.
• Some residents expressed frustration with lack of on-street and sidewalk interface drainage and want staff to consider drainage when planning for snow clearing options.
• There was a clear call to action for the City to better manage community expectations regarding service levels and to clarify roles and responsibilities for snow clearing.
• The public wants to see better coordination between plowing of roads and sidewalks.
• And finally, a very common theme was that people want to see an increase to the City’s enforcement of parking bylaws.

On March 6^th, 2020, the City hosted a stakeholder workshop with the business community. Attendance was fully subscribed with a total of 17 attendees representing businesses in various areas with a significant representation from the North Annex service commercial area. Very few from the downtown commercial area attended. The following feedback was collected during the stakeholder workshop:

• Many liked the fact that the City was developing a plan for the service area and engaging citizens in the process.
• Many were surprised to learn that the City had never prioritized access to critical municipal infrastructure and liked that this was being prioritized.
• There was significant concern around adapting to proposed changes, especially in the North Annex business area where many attendees expressed that they rely on the City road right-of-way to operate their business, and that the new practice of split plowing will limit site access and increase their costs to haul snow.
• When asked to identify what was most important to them as business operators, the majority stated site access - including for their customers, staff and deliveries - as the most important.
• There was a general concern about split plowing and the perceived negative impact of having windrows left along commercial site access.
• Many did not like that the City’s snow pilot included no longer centre-plowing and hauling snow away from commercial areas outside of the downtown. Many felt that centre plowing all business areas would alleviate major problems for business owners.
• Many would like to see better coordination between the City and private contracted services, including a call to action for the City to identify targets for time of day when services are delivered to business areas.
• Increased coordination between City services and highway services including pedestrian and vehicle interface at West Fernie Bridge.
• Safety was a general theme throughout. Specific concerns around site access, on-site and on road snow storage, and general concern for pedestrians in service commercial areas with high traffic delivery trucks.
• The diversity of commercial lot sizes creates varying challenges for businesses including concerns around increased costs to haul snow for those with lack of onsite snow storage options.
• A general sentiment that there is inequity in services provided in the downtown commercial area versus other commercial areas. A specific ask to consider density of commercial areas when prioritizing services.
• A general concern around the lack of perceived availability for businesses to hire contracted services to clear and haul onsite snow.
• Some expressed they would like the City to do a heavy-duty equipment review and consider hiring more staff.
• On-street parking capacity was identified as a concern; a general dislike for granting parking variances for residential units; and an overall desire to see an increase in enforcement of on-street parking bylaws.
• Other topics raised were to a desire to see the City consider GPS in trucks so businesses and residents could see when services were coming to their areas.
• A call for increased clarity on details for the pilot including clarity on service expectations, especially for when there are successive storms.
• An overwhelming desire to continue to be engaged on this topic and others.

Mayor Qualizza and CAO Boronowski were joined on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 from 6:00 - 7:00 pm by representatives from Streets & Utilities, Sustainable Service Delivery, and Bylaw Enforcement in a real-time Q&A on Facebook. The following summarizes questions and answers from that session, including answers to questions we were unable to address in the time allotted. Questions and answers have been grouped by theme and truncated and/or edited for clarity and to avoid duplication.

Purpose

Why is the City doing this?

• The previous way of managing snow throughout the City was unsustainable.
• Plowing snow to the current level is resource intensive and costly. We rely heavily on volunteer overtime to get the job done. This is not just expensive, but also increases safety related incidents, results in equipment damage, and takes staff away from other important work and results in deferred maintenance in all seasons.
• The pilot is intended to provide a standardized service response that is consistent and fair WITHIN CURRENT RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS.
• The pilot is allowing us to gather the data required to make defensible and transparent decisions around resources and snow management budgeting, and we are committed to gathering that data over the course of the entire winter season.

The City had been doing a great job up until now. Why fix what isn’t broken?

• While some areas of the City may have experienced high levels of service, we were not consistently plowing access to critical infrastructure, emergency services, etc., a situation which sometimes lasted for several days. We are now able to consistently clear access to critical infrastructure, schools and other P1 and P2 areas on day 1 after a snowfall. However, the trade-off may be a delay in the service to your street.
• The previous system costs us in hours of lost maintenance in other areas.

This is the worst I’ve seen it in 25 years, and we haven’t had very much snow this year! Is this really worth it?

• The City had no choice but to take action: the previous way encroached on our ability to maintain infrastructure year round, led to higher numbers of safety incidents, and was inconsistent across the community.
• The pilot is allowing us to gather important data so that our policy decisions – including decisions around resources and budgeting – are informed, transparent, and defensible.

Has the budget for snow clearing been cut over the years? What do you really mean by “unsustainable”?

• Great question. No, the budget has not been cut over the years, but the service area hasn’t been reviewed in over two decades – and our community has grown and changed in those 20 years. When we say “unsustainable”, we mean that we do not actually have the resources to deliver what the community expects today or in the future. You may have been happy with the snow clearing service you were experiencing, but the trade off was that the City was unable to clear access to critical infrastructure, delaying routine maintenance and driving costs up in other areas.
• We have also routinely relied on our streets team volunteering to work overtime every time it snowed. Fernie gets a lot of snow! This practice led to an increase in safety related accidents, a poor work-life balance for team members, inconsistent service on weekends and holidays, and diminishing resource availability over the rest of the year, resulting in deferred maintenance and increased costs on roads, water, and sewer service areas in other seasons.

Has the City employed a professional consulting company to come up with a real snow management plan?

Process

Why loop through 2 or 3 times before clearing the whole road? Do it right the first time!

The roads will keep narrowing over the course of the winter. This is a fail!

We have had no back-to-back snow events since this pilot project started last year so you have no data as to how this is going to be when it does happen.

There are plenty of efficient snow clearing plans around the country. Why is Fernie having such a challenge?

• We are moving to curb-to-curb for the next few major snowfalls to determine if this approach will improve service without becoming too slow in terms of opening up critical travel corridors. We appreciate the multiple passes and narrow driving lanes have been a big concern.
• The pilot project aligns with standard practices of prioritizing roads.

Why can Sparwood clear their snow effectively and we can’t?

How does sending crews out in spring to fix the damage done to boulevards and yards save money?

Why are windrows created on both sides of the street in areas where there are driveways/houses on only one side?

Why is 2^nd Avenue the only area being centre plowed?

Your snow management seems to be just moving snow around? But not taking it away?

• Our roads are constructed to maintain adequate right-of-way in order to store snow on the boulevard once it’s been split plowed. We remove snow from the downtown core because there is no City-owned right-of-way to accommodate snow storage.
• The boulevard is the grassy area between the driving and parking lanes and the sidewalk. This falls within the City right-of-way.

I live in the Cedars. Roads are cleared using the sand truck with the belly plow. Although there are two passes the road is barely wide enough for one car. Would it be possible to use the front-end loader with the sidearm plow regularly?

Why doesn’t the City clear a path through James White Park?

Why is the grader running around town with the blade up?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on having a “live” map via GPS equipped vehicles.

Is there any way for residents to know the snow removal route/routine better? It’s hard to maintain the alternating parking on the street in front of our home as it can be days or even weeks before both sides are cleared.

• Maps are available at https://www.fernie.ca/EN/main/residents/city-services/roads-snow-clearing/snow-and-ice-policy-update.html
• Alternate parking schedules are in effect from November through April. Neighbourhood maps are also available via the link above.

Bylaw Enforcement

Why don’t you just two more cars and enforce the parking regulations?

• In November and December 2020, our Bylaw Enforcement Officers attended 3 full plows beginning at 4:00 am and towed 12 vehicles, issued 12 tickets and 48 warnings for winter parking infractions, and were out in the neighbourhoods knocking on doors to encourage people to move their cars for incoming plows.

• We have 1.5 Bylaw Officers for 65 kilometers of roads. We therefore encourage residents to adhere to parking regulations before we have to impose penalties.

Why is there no alternate parking for the Stanford area?

• Alternate parking regulations are in effect City wide on all City owned roads, unless otherwise signed. The Bylaw Enforcement team is enforcing the Streets and Traffic Bylaws and supporting the plow crews.
• If you routinely are noticing vehicles not adhering to the parking regulations, go knock on your neighbour’s door and remind them their actions impact the whole area. You can also visit https://www.fernie.ca/ and register a formal request for service for this area to be monitored by our Bylaw Officers or call City Hall at 250-423-6817.

What are the fines for other snow removal companies in town that push and dump their snow on city streets?

• The bylaw states that no person shall plow, place or pile snow or ice onto any highway, footpath, sidewalk or boulevard, and is punishable by a $50 ticket.
• Improper snow storage also interrupts the City’s snow routes and our ability to clear and maintain the priority routes as planned, which delays service times and increases costs.

Does the town have a sidewalk clearing bylaw?

Resources and Staffing

Aren’t there any employees that work overnight and weekends that can operate the graders and larger equipment?

Why can’t you outsource at least some of the maintenance (like sidewalks, for example) to private companies?

Why don’t you use more experienced operators?

The footprint for the City has increased substantially over the past few years. Has the City increased the number of employees to cover the growth when it comes to operators trained on the equipment?

Schools

My primary concern is the situation around the schools. It is very dangerous, and I am afraid for the safety of the students.

• We appreciate the concern and will focus attention at the school drop off areas, including 2^nd and 3^rd Avenue between 12^th and 14^th Street near EIDES.
• The pivot to curb-to-curb should also help alleviate concerns about the narrowing of roads and bus parking. We encourage people to continue to provide their feedback on this change.

Would it be possible to add schools to the critical infrastructure list, after hospitals, of course?

There needs to be a better attempt to clean up school zones BEFORE school starts.

Laneways

If a laneway has both residential and commercial properties, is it plowed?

Can lanes in the Annex between 13^th Street and 14^th Street be cleared? These are where the 4plexes are with multiple residents and cars.

Please address the back alley on the 800 block between 2^nd and 3^rd Avenue. The area is zoned commercial.

Sidewalks

Why doesn’t the City sand the sidewalks? Use serrated blades? Hold homeowners accountable for keeping sidewalks clear?

• The City does sand sidewalks but we recognize there is room for improvement. As sidewalk clearing has not been a consistent service the City has provided in previous years, the City has not yet modernized the equipment fleet to best serve sidewalk corridors. We are making do with the resources we currently have. Through this pilot initiative we are hearing from the community and will be identifying specific resources including equipment required to meet the expressed needs of the community.
• Historically, only commercial and multi-family residential properties have been responsible for and held accountable to clearing and maintaining their sidewalks in the winter. Shifting to a different model could be considered if the community desired.

Why are we trying to save the sidewalks so much? People are already electing to walk on the roadways because of the sand and gravel.

I thought 6^th Avenue was a route to keep people off the highway? What happened?

Why are only the west side of 2^nd Avenue north sidewalks maintained by the City and not the east side sidewalks?

Why are we only plowing to the sidewalks and not over the sidewalks? The roads are narrow and the sidewalks unpassable due to ice build-up.

I work with people with acquired brain injuries. Due to COVID, one of our only option to engage is to go for a walk.

Down in the Airport I see that the plow has come by on some streets to clear the sidewalk mess but on some streets, including mine, it hasn’t been touched.

Fire Hydrants

I have noticed that fire hydrants haven’t been cleared in our area. Shouldn’t these be done any time there is a significant snowfall?

• We do clear fire hydrants as resources allow. We also coordinate directly with first responders and would scramble staff to ensure they’re clear and access is provided in case of emergency.
• Fire hydrants are part of the priority 5 service area. For more information on the priority framework, please go to https://www.fernie.ca/EN/main/residents/city-services/roads-snow-clearing/snow-and-ice-policy-update.html

Drainage

I am concerned that the snow plowing covers most storm drains, so in the springtime there is no way run off will get to the drains. (Alpine Trails)

The City came and pushed 5 feet on top of the drain in front of my house. Is there no concern for keeping those clear? I am unclear on the policy for storm drains.

Windrow Clearing Program

Can you please clarify whether the Seniors’ Windrow Program is still running?

I’m on the list for windrow removal. It has NEVER been done without having to phone the City. Feeling frustrated is an understatement.

Community Feedback

It would be good to maybe allow other members of the community who are not on Facebook to express their thoughts by invitation to written submission. Some of the elderly residents who are affected may not have the same online communication that we have.

When seniors call City Hall, are they able to talk to someone?

Why are you running this pilot program during a pandemic? There needs to be safe, in person consultation.