The City of Vancouver is calling this past winter “an event that happens once every 30 years.” But just in case, they are already looking ahead.
In a report – to be reviewed by the Committee on Policy and Strategic Priorities – the city’s engineering general manager is asking council to increase the city’s snow response and readiness budget.
The general manager is asking council to approve increasing the snow clearing budget from $780,000 to $1.62 million. He also asks for a multi-year capital budget of $4.3 million for capital improvements.
The report says the extra funding would be used to expand equipment inventory, such as winter tires and chains for city fleet vehicles, traffic monitoring cameras, and more snow clearing equipment such as dump trucks and snow blowers.
The report also suggests increasing salt and brine storage capacity and upgrading the salt storage facilities to reduce loading and deployment time during a snow event.
There’s also a suggestion to update material contracts to secure guaranteed quotas of salt after the city was forced to pay extra to secure additional supplies.
“The city did not run out of salt this past season, but the cost to secure additional salt over the quota outlined in the current contract was at a higher price,” reads part of the report.
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The report also suggests reviewing enforcement mechanisms when it comes to the public’s driving responsibilities and snow clearing efforts.
More than 9,000 tickets were issued to residents who failed to clear their sidewalks. The report is proposing a review of the enforcement efforts of the bylaw.
“This is a labour intensive process requiring multiple return trips for residents that were either not home or did not respond,” reads the report.
Some of the additional budget and resources being requested would also go towards better response times. The city is looking to include bus stops, arterial corner ramps, and pedestrian bike lanes as part of the snow clearing response.
The increased funds will come from “either increased expenditure budget funded by additional revenues, or offset by a reduction in expenditure budget in another area,” according to the report.
The city spent $13.7 million fighting the snow this winter.