After another big dump of snow this week, many Burnaby residents were out first thing Tuesday morning shovelling sidewalks in front of their houses, but the snow remained thick on the sidewalks outside many local schools.
The City of Burnaby’s street and traffic bylaw requires owners or occupiers of single-family, multi-family, industrial, commercial or institutional properties to remove any snow or ice accumulation from all sidewalks surrounding their property not later than 10 a.m. every day, including holidays.
Fines for infractions range from $100 for single-family homes to $400 for “industrial, commercial or institutional’ properties.
“Keeping sidewalks clear ensures everyone can get around safely in winter weather,” states the city’s website.
After the city’s first big snowfall at the end of November, however, the NOW got a call from a reader concerned about uncleared snow in front of a local school, so we reached out to the Burnaby school district to find out more about its procedure for clearing sidewalks.
“Sidewalks that are adjacent to our schools and district buildings are our responsibility,” said secretary treasurer Russell Horswill in an emailed statement. “We salt the sidewalks before the snowstorm and then they get shoveled the day it snows. We prioritize the school walkways and sidewalks first, before the city sidewalks. Sometimes due to unanticipated staff illnesses the morning of a snowstorm, it can take a little longer than we would like to get to the city sidewalks, as we work our way through priorities with the staffing that we have.”
With schools now closed down for the holidays, however, it’s unclear what will happen with the snow that walloped the city this week.
Sidewalks by three of the four schools checked by the NOW after 10 a.m. Tuesday had not yet been cleared.
The school board office is closed this week, but the district’s maintenance services centre remains open, so the NOW reached out, but calls and emails were not returned.
All property owners, including the school district, are responsible for clearing their sidewalks; and city staff have reached out to the district directly to “ensure they are able to clear their properties,” according to City of Burnaby public affairs officer Cole Wagner.
“Our approach to enforcement is the same for everyone – we work directly with the property owners to educate them on our bylaws and only issue citations as a last resort,” Wagner said in an email.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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