Waterloo wants your feedback on improving shared sidewalk snow clearing

The City of Waterloo is looking for feedback to improve the current model of sidewalk snow clearing, where both the City and private property owners are responsible for clearing snow from sidewalks. City-wide snow clearing of all sidewalks is not being considered at this time.

Residents are invited to complete the public survey on Engage Waterloo (www.engagewr.ca/waterloo-sidewalk-snow). The survey, open until May 3, 2023 will help the City gather feedback on potential improvements to the current shared snow clearing model. Discussions with impacted community groups will also be part of the review.

The City has already heard several issues from the community when it comes to sidewalk snow clearing and accessibility, including:

• Not having a clear path along an entire route of travel, where only some parts of a route have been cleared or the full width of the route hasn't been cleared.
• Intersections and crosswalks being blocked by snow piles from road plowing or not being cleared to the road.
• Road plows pushing snow onto curb-face sidewalks.
• Bus stop access, including where sidewalks are not cleared to get to the stop, the stop itself is not being cleared, and/or snow piles blocking access to the bus at the curb.
• Snow blocking people from activating pedestrian crossing signal buttons.

The survey will provide feedback on how we could prioritize areas for city-clearing, adjust the sidewalk snow clearing standards and regulations, or improve compliance with our bylaw. In addition to gathering community feedback, City staff are also reviewing the equipment and methods currently in use for City snow clearing and looking into options that could help better maintain the sidewalks, walkways and trails that the municipality is responsible for. This includes a review of the snow clearing bylaw and looking for ways to increase awareness and compliance for snow clearing by property owners.

Recommendations to Council for the 2024-2026 budget will be informed by the survey, targeted community discussions and a review of the City’s operations and bylaws.

Find the survey and project updates on the City of Waterloo sidewalk snow clearing Engage Waterloo page.

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Media contact:

Cari Van Niekerk
Manager, Corporate Communications
cari.vanniekerk@waterloo.ca