Kitchener council chooses to defer large portion winter sidewalk clearing review

Kitchener City Council passed a slimmed-down version of the much-debated winter sidewalk clearing review which had been made by city staff.

Council passed a limited portion of the proposal, choosing instead to defer the remainder until May 2019, well after this fall’s municipal election.

The sections that were passed included proactive inspections and partnership grants to assist those in need. The approved portions of the proposal are expected to cost around $69,000.

The proactive inspections will see bylaw officers monitor whether sidewalks have been cleared in a timely manner, rather than wait for calls from concerned citizens. If fully implemented, this will cost Kitchener $170,000 per year for four officers.

By deferring the other major components, the city will save nearly $700,000.

Other options the city was considering included tests of full city sidewalk clearance, the city cleaning sidewalks if there was an accumulation above eight centimetres and weather sensors to monitor snowfall in test sections of Kitchener.

One proposal would have Kitchener test full clearance on 40 kilometres of sidewalks, and would have cost $179,000. If the city were to eventually implement that plan on the 1,202 kilometres of sidewalk city-wide, it would run $3.6 million per year, plus an initial $4 million capital investment.

Another proposal, for Kitchener to test clearance after an 8 cm snowfall on a 40 km portion of sidewalks, would also have cost $179,000. City staff estimates it would cost $2 million per year for contracted clearance, five times per annum.

The monitors would have measured pavement surface conditions by using optical, infrared, pyrometer and laser technologies. They would cost $82,000 including supply, installation, two-year annual maintenance and access to software and cloud service. An additional $78,000 would be required to fully implement the monitors with an additional $3,000 needed per year to monitor the extra stations.