The City of Surrey has handed out over 100 warnings so far this week to property owners who haven’t cleared their sidewalks of snow and ice.
City officials told Global News that between Jan. 3 and Jan. 7, 130 warnings were issued to residents who failed to meet the city’s bylaw around snow removal.
In Surrey, snow must be cleared from sidewalks adjacent to residential or business properties by 10 a.m. on the day following snowfall. Failure to do so comes with a $75 fine for businesses, and a $50 for residents.
Out of the 130 warnings, 41 homeowners have complied so far while 17 did not and were issued violations. Crews were still making 72 remaining inspections on Saturday.
Many residents around Metro Vancouver have complained in recent weeks about the lack of snow removal by property owners and city crews. Sidewalks have been extremely slippery for many and unusable for some in wheelchairs and other mobility devices.
In Maple Ridge, icy sidewalks forced a boy with disabilities to stay home from school for the first half of last week.
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“It just sucks, there’s nothing I can do,” Owen, the boy’s dad, said. “It just feels like we’ve been ignored.”
In Vancouver, the number of tickets issued for snow on sidewalks will be released on Monday, according to City spokesperson Tobin Postma.
But last week, Jerry Dobrovolny, general manager of engineering, said they were stepping up enforcement of the bylaw that states residential sidewalks have to be cleared by 10 am the morning after the snowfall, and re-deployed 50 staff to assist with the enforcement process.
The City of Vancouver has received thousands of complaints of uncleared sidewalks and says it has responded to most of them.
Dobrovolny says the complaints are followed up with a warning at first. If the residents don’t comply, they can be issued a ticket or taken to court.
WATCH: A special weather statement for more snow and rain tomorrow has been issued. For most of us it’s just been inconvenient but for others, the weather has left them housebound. Nadia Stewart reports.
–With files from Yuliya Talmazan
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