Who’s responsible for clearing away snow in Lethbridge?

As much of Alberta continues to deal with cold temperatures and snow, Lethbridge business owners have been busy shoveling their entrances.

“I’ll do this before we open, and then the employees will do it every couple of hours,” said Mitchell Casson, owner and operator of Top Pizza & Spaghetti House.

“We usually, I think yesterday, we shoveled four times.”

Casson explained that it’s important to know that the job is being done right, to make sure customers can get in and walk by safely.

“We have a sheet in the back, and it has dates, times and names of people shoveling my sidewalk every two hours or so, so that we can ensure the safety of our customers and perform our due diligence.”

According to the downtown revitalization zone, there is a clear line drawn in the snow as to what businesses need to do when it comes to sidewalk snow removal.

“We remind business owners on a fairly regular basis that they are responsible for removing the snow directly outside their front door,” said Sara Amies, the executive director of the downtown business revitalization zone in Lethbridge. “And what we ask them to do is remove that snow to the boulevard portion of the sidewalk.”

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While bike lanes have been a point of contention for some businesses, it’s not their responsibility to clean them and instead something the city is responsible for.

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“The city is responsible for clearing those,” Amies said. “I’m not sure what formula they use but when the snow reaches a certain depth, they’re out there clearing.”

City of Lethbridge Transportation Operations Manager Juliane Ruck explained it’s a balance of “working with residents and business owners downtown to find something that’s feasible for users, business owners and for us as the service provider.

“With this kind of snow, we’re planning to be out there tonight or early tomorrow morning.”

Clean sweep crews have their shovels out as well for the spots that are still uncleared.

“What we do is improve pedestrian access,” Amies said. “We shovel out the kiosks. We shovel out intersection access and alley aprons.”