A snow job is underway at city hall, but this one is all about getting the public involved. Consultation has begun on one of the biggest single line items on the municipal budget, snow and ice removal, and the call is out for feedback and input. Any opinion you've ever had on dealing with snowy streets now has an official place to live.
"We have looked at our operations and developed four scenarios where we could save money, and we are looking for public input on each of those scenarios," said Al Clark, manager of transportation for the City of Prince George. "We would like to get as many people as possible to give input in regard to those scenarios or if there are any other ideas out there on how we should be conducting our operations we would be pleased to hear those too."
The city's snow removal policy was designed in the '90s with one update in 2002. City council felt it was time again for a revamp.
"The underlying objective is to ensure that as a winter city, the transportation network remains functioning throughout the winter months," said Clark. "The impact of each of these four scenarios on the overall snow budget of $4,800,000 is provided in terms of a dollar value and a percentage of the overall Budget. We would like your input on whether these options are acceptable."
Any form of communication is acceptable, from postcard to video. The most common way to provide this input is clicking the "Snow Removal" icon found under the "Feedback" headline at www.city.pg.bc.ca.
Scenario 1 (Represents 6.6 per cent of total budget)
Residential Street Clearing Using Only City Equipment
Right now, streets get cleaned when the snow piles up to 100mm or more. Right now, city crews supplement that work by hiring private contractors and together it takes four to five days to clear the city. If only city crews were involved, no contractors, it would go to eight to 10 days to finish the city. This would save about $315,000 per year (based on the average of seven such snowfalls per year).
Scenario 2 (Represents 2.8 per cent of total budget)
Residential Street Clearing Increasing Snow Depth from 100mm to 150mm Before Ploughing
The number of times residential areas are ploughed could potentially be reduced by three times over the course of an average winter (weather dependent). By increasing the snow depth accumulation to 150mm from 100mm, your residential street would be ploughed less often saving approximately $135,000.
Scenario 3 (Represents 3.5 per cent of total budget)
Residential Street Clearing Stopping the Practice of Removing Driveway Windrows
Currently, all driveways are cleared by loaders that come along after the ploughs have cleared the street snow. The loaders scoop away the windrow left across driveways. Ceasing this practice would put the onus on the property owners to clear that snow, but save the budget (again, assuming the average snowfall year) about $170,000.
Scenario 4 (Represents 9.7 per cent of total budget)
Median Snow Storage
The especially large windrows of snow on first priority roads such as Ospika, Tabor, Foothills and some of the main second priority roads currently gets loaded onto trucks and hauled away to a snow dump. In an average snow year this may be done up to five times. Leaving the windrows would potentially save $375,000.
