District of Squamish has amended the traffic bylaw adding “impeding snow removal” to the bylaw.
Flouting it will carry a $250 penalty, though an early payment within 14 days would reduce the fine to $200, while a late payment after 28 days will increase it to $300.
District has also amended its Frontage and Sidewalk Maintenance bylaw for a new penalty. Anyone who deposit snows originating from private property onto District property can be fined $200.
On October 4, the council approved an updated Snow and Ice Control Policy and made changes to traffic, frontage and sidewalk maintenance bylaw as part of this process. The changes were proposed because of court decisions and a staff review of the snow and ice clearing program following heavy snowfalls in late 2021 and early 2022.
Another bylaw amendment will allow District to designate parts of streets as ‘locations’ for scheduled snow and ice removal. This allows the District to specify certain times when street parking can be prohibited to allow for snow removal. According to the DOS report, this approach is used in other communities such as Whistler as well. District crews encountered problems last year on a number of narrower streets where vehicle parking had rendered snow clearing impossible.
The new Snow and Ice Control Policy repeals the 2008 policy and the updated policy seeks to provide a “core” policy that provides improved liability protection to District.
District has also updated road priorities to reflect all new roads. As well, sidewalk priorities in residential areas have been established based on Safe Routes to School needs. Bylaw Enforcement will also be working with residential property owners to encourage them to maintain the sidewalks in front of their property.
M. Kanka says
It would be interesting to learn how the DOS is fining itself for pushing snow from roads into/onto private driveways and also for not clearing access to bus stops and not clearing bike lanes.