Winter Walking and Cycling

[danbrotherston]

I'm not on twitter. I plan on e-mailing my city councillor to ask her what her understanding is vis a vis the test bylaw officers are applying to decide whether sidewalks are "passable." I specifically want to know what the guidance is that has been provided to bylaw officers. There has to be some.

The supervisor I talked to said "passable" meant "passable" to someone with a stroller or a wheelchair. He specifically said, packed surface, not slippery. The test of this is the officer's judgment.

The part that I was really surprised by was regarding the windrows. I had been led to believe that property owners did have to clear them. I'm really uncertain on how they're supposed to be cleared. The impression that I get is the same as yours: they really don't.

This is a change to my understanding, I have been told by bylaw before that they do require property owners to clear them, but like the clearing standards, this could have changed as well.

I do know Waterloo has always maintained that property owners are not required to clear the snow, I asked what would be done about this, and I was told explicitly by bylaw that there is no requirement for anyone to clear that snow and if it was impeding someone (like my disabled coworker) it will never be cleared.

Of course, such a reality doesn't seem to phase city councillors...or should we say, they don't want to acknowledge this.