City council is considering changing the way it plows sidewalks.
Meeting on Tuesday at Tom Davies Square, councillors were told the current policy was largely inherited from the former municipalities when Greater Sudbury was created 16 years ago.
Roads director David Shelsted said some sidewalks that have been built since then are being plowed, depending on where they are located.
“But basically, they remain as (they were) prior to amalgamation,” Shelsted said.
Members of the finance and administration committee were told that improving sidewalk snowplowing in the city would cost an extra $265,000 to $1.34 million, depending on how much more they want to do.
Currently, about 75 per cent of Greater Sudbury's 440 kilometres of sidewalks are plowed during winter, meaning 115 kilometres remain snow covered.
Complicating the issue, 50 kilometres of the unserviced sidewalks are older and are just four feet wide, rather than the modern standard of five feet.
“In order to maintain narrow 1.2-metre-width sidewalks, specialty plowing equipment would be required,” a staff report on the issue said. “The majority of the 1.2-metre-wide sidewalks are located in the communities of Falconbridge, Lively, Levack, Onaping, Coniston, Garson, Capreol, and Copper Cliff.
“In many instances, the city inherited these 1.2-metre-wide sidewalks which were constructed by the former mining companies INCO and Falconbridge to their respective standards of the time.”
Ward 1 Coun. Michael Vagnini convinced his colleagues to approve a motion to extend plowing for this year to Walden Public School, where he said students sometimes face hazardous conditions getting on and off the school bus because the sidewalk by the school isn't plowed.
Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh wondered why a school zone wasn't being plowed, and wondered if the city had a complete picture of priority sidewalks, as opposed to simply plowing where the old municipalities used to.
“Maybe we're plowing sidewalks we don't need to,” McIntosh said. “Where the schools are, bus stops are the priority.”
She said the city has limited resources and was reluctant to increase the budget without knowing where plowing is most needed.
“I'm not keen at throwing more money at sidewalks without taking a look at the whole network,” McIntosh said. “We can approve money, but not if we have money we have over here that we can shift.”
“Throwing extra bucks at this problem is not going to make it disappear,” said Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier. “The sidewalk in front of your house is always the priority … We do live in Sudbury, and the plows do the best job they can.”
Councillors voted to have staff prepare a report on what areas are the highest priority. And Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann also asked for information on how much it would cost to have contractors do the plowing, as opposed to city staff.
Mayor Brian Bigger said the soon-to-be-hired active transportation co-ordinator will be able to help with the report. While it won't be ready in time for the next budget, the report will help shape sidewalk snowplowing policy in the long term.
Plowing at Walden Public School will be financed from a one-time draw from a reserve fund for 2016.
