Officials say Vancouver ready for another round of icy temperatures

VANCOUVER — Bylaw officers have issued 9,000 warnings and a few hundred tickets to city residents and businesses who failed scrape snow and ice from their walkways.

The announcement comes as another big chill is set to hit southern British Columbia, and this time Vancouver city officials say they are ready with plenty |of salt and sand on roadways to prevent streets from turning to skating rinks again.

Environment Canada is forecasting a low of minus 10 Wednesday night and a chance of snow going into the weekend for Metro Vancouver.

The city’s general manager of engineering services Jerry Dobrovolny says additional staff have been diverted to snow removal efforts and more resources will be made available, if necessary.

But Dobrovolny wouldn’t say if the city planned to conduct its snow clean-up differently after several rounds of snow and plunging temperatures left many residential streets and walkways iced over for days on end.

The city offered free road salt to residents last week and police were called in to some of the distribution sites where disputes broke out between some residents waiting in line.

Dobrovolny says the city has already gone through nearly 10 times the amount of salt it uses for an average winter compared with the past two years and it has increased the number of salt suppliers to ensure there won’t be a shortage.