City of Saskatoon looks at tougher enforcement of snow clearing bylaw

The City of Saskatoon wants to add some bite to its snow clearing bylaw.
 
It’s been on the books for years — people have 48 hours after a snowfall to get residential sidewalks cleared.
 
Under the bylaw, when the city gets a complaint, they send out an inspector to verify that the snow hasn’t been taken care of.
 
From there, if the property is found to be disobeying the bylaw, they issue a warning, giving people another 48 hours to clear their snow. If it doesn’t get done by then, the city comes and takes care of it, with the cost tacked on to the homeowner’s property taxes.
 
All of that will be staying in place. But with council voting back in February to look at toughening up enforcement, administration has come up with a system that would add fines for repeat offenders, on top of the cost for the cleanup. That system was presented at a meeting of the city’s Standing Policy Committee on Transportation on Monday.
 
Under the proposed system, fines would kick in for a second offence starting at $100, moving to $200 for the third.  Refuse to shovel a fourth time and you’ll be explaining why to a judge as the city would issue a court summons at that point.
 
Andrew Hildebrandt, the city’s Director of Community Standards, said he thinks the system is a  reasonable measure that will hopefully get more people to pick up their shovels when it snows.
 
“From the end of a snowfall we’re looking at a seven-day process, by the time everything administratively flows out to get the ticket issued. So, that’s quite a bit of time,” he said.
 
Inspectors would have discretion not to ticket people who can’t shovel by reason of age or disability. He told committee members the city would be keeping a list of organizations willing to help people keep their sidewalks clear in order to refer people in need.
 
With about 120 kilometres of sidewalks adjacent to city-owned property, Hildebrandt noted that the bylaw applies equally to the city itself.
 
“The whole enforcement process is designed around that concept, that we will be able to comply as well. So all the timelines you see laid out;  when notices will be issued, when tickets will be issued, is all designed to ensure that we’re able to comply the same (as anybody else). And we would encourage, from a bylaw enforcement perspective, residents to complain and register complaints against the city equally — and then we can deal with it,” he said.
 
Council will review the proposed fine system at its meeting on Nov. 23.