City of Waterloo declares Significant Weather Event and parking ban

The City of Waterloo has declared a Significant Weather Event and street parking ban effective at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, February 12, 2025. 

Residents must remove cars from streets by midnight tonight or risk being ticketed and towed. The parking ban will remain in effect for at least 24 hours. Information will be posted before 5 p.m. on Thursday February 13, 2025 if the City decides to extend the significant weather event and parking ban for another 24 hours. Removing cars from streets will ensure safe and quick snow removal. Overnight parking exemptions will not be permitted.

Under the City’s traffic and parking bylaw, parking is prohibited on all streets at any time a snow event and/or significant weather event is declared until it is cancelled, not just overnight. Significant weather events are declared when the City anticipates hazardous weather conditions such as:

• 20 cm of snow within 24 hours;
• ice accumulation of 20 mm; and/or;
• high winds greater than 60 km/r.

During a Significant Weather Event, residents are encouraged to stay off the roads to allow snowplow crews to do their jobs and clear roadways to give access to emergency vehicles. Our snow clearing teams will make every effort to continue their work, but it will take longer than usual and routes may not be maintained as normally expected.  Follow our progress on our snow removal map.

Residential roads will be cleared after main roads and transit routes, they have not been forgotten. Residents can assist by not parking on the streets at any time during the significant weather event and not pushing snow from driveways or parking lots into or across the street.

Residents are encouraged to subscribe to the City’s newsfeed or follow the City on Twitter/X or Facebook to determine if a parking ban is still in effect. If individuals suspect their car has been towed through this program, they should call the Waterloo Regional Police dispatch number at 519-570-9777 to find their car’s location.

Clearing sidewalks and trails

The City requires residents to clear snow and ice from sidewalks at the front and side of homes and businesses within 24 hours after the end of a snow fall. Although it’s the law, it’s also the neighbourly thing to do. Snow or ice-covered sidewalks can be treacherous for all residents, especially those who already have mobility restrictions.

During the winter months, several City bylaw officers are dedicated full-time to ensuring snow-clearing regulations are followed by residents. Staff respond to complaints and proactively monitor sidewalks for compliance. To report unshovelled sidewalks, register a complaint online anytime at mypermits.waterloo.ca, or by calling 519-747-8785 Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

City crews maintain approximately 170 kms of sidewalks and trails. When possible, we ask residents to please minimize their use of trails and sidewalks after a snow event to allow staff time to complete their snow clearing operations. Crews use trackless units with plows, blowers and salters for most of this work. This equipment moves much more slowly than a road plow, and it is not unusual for roads to be cleared before city-maintained sidewalks and trails.

Staff will start snow clearing operations on our most heavily used primary sidewalks and trails. During continuous snowfalls, primary routes may require multiple passes before staff can move into the lesser used secondary routes. For residents and property owners on city-maintained sidewalks and trail routes, we ask that vehicles not be parked over the city maintained areas to allow crews to complete their passes. As a reminder, do not deposit snow from private properties onto sidewalks/trails and roadways. This can be dangerous for pedestrians and drivers.

More information

For more information about the City’s snow clearing priorities for roads and sidewalks and some tips for driving/parking when plows are active, visit waterloo.ca/snow.

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Media contact:

Stacey Abbott
Manager, Corporate Communications
Stacey.Abbott@waterloo.ca