300 complaints for snowy sidewalks in Vancouver, no fines

The City of Vancouver has received hundreds of complaints about people not clearing sidewalks after Tuesday’s snowfall.

A city bylaw requires property owners to clear the entire width of the sidewalk – right down to the pavement – by 10:00 a.m.

As of noon Wednesday, 300 complaints had been received. But despite the city saying it would be cracking down, no fines have been issued.

Albert Shamess is the director of waste management and green operations, and his department looking after inspections and fines related to snow removal.

“While we may get a lot of complaints (inspectors) really don’t end up issuing a lot of tickets,” Shamess said. “In a lot of cases, what we find after the complaint comes in is that after the inspector gets there it's already been cleaned up.”

Before residents can be issued a fine they first have to be given a 24-hour warning. And even if the same house is issued a warning every snowfall, it still won’t result in an automatic ticket.

“We have to follow the same process even for repeat offenders,” Shamess said.

Mayor Ken Sim said he hopes the city won’t have to crack down.

“My preference would be to give people a nice gentle nudge,” he told CTV News. “”It’s not just about you, it’s about the community. If there’s 300 complaints obviously there are a lot of people who feel the same way, I think we all have to do out part.”

In a given winter the city will usually received between 1,200-1,500 complaints. So far this year there have already been 1,234. There were 26 complaints filed after Sunday’s snowfall and 908 following the dumping in November.

INCREASING THE BUDGET TO DEAL WITH SNOW?

In addition to snowy sidewalks many streets are still buried under snow. The city does not plow residential streets meaning some areas like East Vancouver are incredibly slippery.

Sim described the winter weather event as “unprecedented.”

“I don't remember a snowstorm that shut down ferries and the airport and roads across the city for this period of time,” he said.

Over the last five years the city, on average, has spent around $5.1 million on “weather readiness” including equipment maintenance, crew training and snow removal. That’s compared to around $187 million for a city like Montreal.

CTV News asked Sim whether the annual amount should go up.

“You don’t run things looking at the peak worst-case scenario of all time because it isn't necessarily the best thing to do,” he said.

“If it becomes an ongoing thing, then absolutely, we will plan accordingly.”