Parking-ban policy being eyed by city
In an effort to modernize Regina’s snow removal program, city officials are working on a new policy that would prohibit parking on the busiest streets at certain times after a storm.
The parking-ban policy on high-priority roads such as Victoria Avenue and Albert Street is still being drafted, and corresponding costs are not yet known, but Mayor Michael Fougere expects to see a report released soon as the winter season creeps closer.
“I think council has an appetite for that one,” said Fougere, who initially floated the idea last winter. “If you can remember Victoria Avenue last year when we had cars that looked like ice cubes — we just can’t have that. People have to get off the street.”
City council is to discuss the snow removal program on Tuesday, when it meets for the first time since the wastewater treatment plant referendum was held two weeks ago.
That conversation is expected to centre on the city’s winter operations budget as a whole, but the mayor on Thursday said the discussion could include a parking-ban policy during winter storms.
“The sooner the better, given the nature of our city here and our longer winters,” Fougere explained. “It’s something I’d like to look at right away.”
He added that he hopes the new policy can be implemented this winter season.
The issue of snow not being cleared from parking lanes, which often leads to vehicles getting stuck, is a perennial one that plagues Reginans as well as city council members every year.
But it remains unclear if the city can afford costly changes to its snow removal program. A recent administrative report shows that the city went nearly $1 million over its $6.3-million winter maintenance operations budget last year. By June of this year, more than $7 million had already been spent in 2013, the report said.
As well, council is to send to the budget process a recommendation to clear more sidewalks around such public spaces as parks and recreational facilities. The current sidewalk-clearing budget is $406,510, which would increase by $418,203 if city council adopts the measure.
To the chagrin of Terri Sleeva, chair of the Regina Citizens’ Public Transit Coalition, the report stopped short of recommending that residents be required under a bylaw to clear the sidewalk outside their house. Sleeva said many coalition members with mobility limitations express frustration every winter when they cannot walk down the sidewalk because it’s covered with snow. She argues a sidewalk-clearing bylaw should be a top priority.
“It’s scary — a little goat path is not conducive to a wheelchair. How do you travel?” said Sleeva, who noted the problem also affects transit users who have trouble walking to the bus stop when sidewalks haven’t been cleared.
But Fougere suggested such a bylaw isn’t warranted when 75 per cent of homeowners already clear their sidewalks. City council is to discuss ways of encouraging more people to shovel their sidewalks, as well as snow removal at bus stops, at future meetings.