City Council considers changes to snow and ice clearing policies

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The City of Fort St. John Council is considering changes to the City’s Snow and Ice Control Policy following a presentation update during the January 6th Committee of the Whole.

Jeremy Garner, the Director of Public Works and Utilities, appeared in front of the council to discuss how snow is currently cleared in the city and what changes have been made and are being tested.

According to Garner, the city’s current snowclearing methodology results in a team needing 2,400 hours to clear 10 centimeters of snow from all sidewalks and roads within the city.

Snow clearing in the city is conducted by graders, trucks, and snowblowers operated by contractors and support staff, who clear roads and sidewalks according to a category system.

The ‘category’ system is one of the changes made by the department going into the 2024 – 2025 winter, moving away from terminology such as ‘priorities’ to reduce resident frustration.

These categories are cleared by workers from three different government departments: Public Works, Facilities, and Parks. 

Category one roads falling under the responsibility of Public Works include major thoroughfares and adjacent sidewalks such as 100th Street and 100th Avenue. Category two focuses on collector routes and adjacent sidewalks, and category three is transit routes, stops, and adjacent sidewalks, as well as core avenues in the city. Categories four and five are all frontage roads and core commercial paved lanes and residential areas, respectively. 

For the Facilities department, category one pertains to parking lots of emergency services, category two is Operations and Maintenance buildings, and category three is Recreational and Administrative buildings. 

The Parks department is responsible for sidewalks and trails adjacent to City-owned properties on category one routes, and parks and other City-owned parking lots in category two. Category three routes are all other multi-use trails throughout the City. There are no category four or five routes for the Facilities and Parks departments.

In the winter of 2024 – 2025, designated weekday clearings are being proposed and tested alongside the category system, strategically planned for two days out from the area’s garbage collection date on a rotating two-week cycle.

Garner also proposed that the City utilize updates to the Traffic Bylaw to institute a no parking ban on all category one roads from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. The proposal included an exception for 100th Street and 100th Avenue, and would have vehicles towed and their owners fined if found in violation of the ban from October 1st to April 30th. 

The proposal also recommended a no parking ban on all residential streets from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the area’s given snow clearing day, with both bans working to support crews in faster, more efficient snow removal. 

During the presentation, councillors vocalized their support for a parking ban but also recommended that the ban timeline be changed for downtown, business-heavy streets, proposing that it run from 12 a.m. to 7 a.m. instead. 

Following the presentation’s conclusion, it and an accompanying administration report were received for information by the council, who will consider future changes and updates to the Snow and Ice Control Policy to improve snow clearing activities and timelines throughout the city.