Our existing policy is more than 20 years old and is outdated and missing key components. Following it makes it difficult to equitably deliver services that meet the needs of the entire community.

The City spends more than $700,000 annually on our snow and ice management program and requires, on average, 10% of our operational staff resources every year.

The scope of the service the City provides has grown year over year and is unsustainable:

• It is resource-intensive and costly;
• It relies heavily on volunteer overtime, which increases safety-related incidents and equipment damage;
• It pulls crews and resources away from other critical maintenance work and results in deferred maintenance in all seasons.

Each winter the City has between 20 and 30 full plow days. Currently a full plow is triggered by a 5 cm snowfall and is resourced by 18 staff (including flaggers and truck drivers) and 15 city fleet/equipment - plus contracted services for hauling snow and grooming pathways.

Under the old snow clearing model, access to critical infrastructure was regularly delayed until day 3 or day 4 after a snowfall. The proposed model ensures this access on day one.

The current snow policy does not incorporate different modes of transportation.

In order to meet these challenges, the City conducted an Operational Pilot over the 2019/2020 winter season.