Fort St. John resident calls for more organized snow removal goals and timelines

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A local resident has called for the City of Fort St. John to develop better strategies for removing snow more effectively. 

Stephen Foster is a 15-year resident of Fort St. John and is currently on long-term disability leave due to a spinal cord disease. 

Foster started to be concerned with the snow removal policy after a city Facebook post on November 15th, 2024.

In the post, the city apologized for not handling the snow removal properly in 2024 and said it is reassessing how its equipment is deployed. 

Foster emailed the city in early February asking for clearly defined guidelines for what it deems successful removal.

“My feedback to the city via their social media channels is what is success? What are you guys defining as success or failure? Because as far as I could tell in their policy, it’s not there,” said Foster. 

Mayor Lilia Hansen emailed Foster in response to say the city’s policy is being adjusted based on community feedback. 

“Once finalized, this policy will provide clear transparency as to where equipment is expected to be working each day, in addition to maintaining priority routes,” wrote Hansen. 

Hansen says a snow-clearing schedule will be created for residential areas that is similar to garbage and recycling collection. 

“This schedule will allow residents to know where crews are working and when they must not park their vehicles during specific hours on the road on days that correspond to their area,” said Hansen. 

During a city council meeting on January 6th, Jeremy Garner, director of public works and utilities, said the city’s current snow-clearing methodology requires a team to work 2,400 hours to clear 10 centimetres of snow from all sidewalks and roads within the city.

However, Foster points to a number of alleged issues.

“I don’t see timelines, I don’t see measurable outcomes, I see a policy document that basically says ‘this is how we’re going to do it’ and ‘this is what we’re going to do,’ but where is the feedback for the stakeholders? Where is the customer satisfaction?” asked Foster. 

Foster also says the policies need to set clear standards, such as allowing the free movement of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, reducing accidents and minimizing costs. 

Foster pointed out other municipalities’ removal policies which he claims are more detailed.

“The City of Prince Albert states in their snow removal policy, [roads] shall be opened in 24 hours and have ice control operations concluded in 24 hours,” said Foster. 

Energeticcity.ca reached out to the City of Fort St. John for additional comment but did not receive a response by publication time. 

More on the city’s snow removal policy can be found here.