{"id":22691,"date":"2019-01-17T11:48:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T16:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=22691"},"modified":"2019-01-24T18:05:38","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T23:05:38","slug":"windrow-clearing-could-cost-upwards-of-1-5-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/windrow-clearing-could-cost-upwards-of-1-5-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Windrow clearing could cost upwards of $1.5 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

The frustration that comes with clearing your driveway after a heavy snowfall only to have your access to the road cut off by a new snowy hurdle at the hands of a passing snow plow is almost as integral to the Canadian experience as maple syrup and peameal bacon, but it could cost taxpayers over $1.5 million if Aurora wants to make windrows a thing of the past.
\nThese are the findings of municipal staff who are set to provide a report to Council this week recommending against a windrow clearing program in the Town of Aurora.
\nAccording to Jim Tree, Aurora\u2019s Acting Manager of Roads and Water, clearing Aurora\u2019s estimated 18,900 private driveways of windrows could clock in at over $1.5 million, but that is not counting the capital costs of securing the equipment to make it happen.
\n\u201cCosts do not include the capital costs that would be incurred in purchasing the specialized equipment required to facilitate the program,\u201d said Mr. Tree. \u201cIn addition, it would be necessary to contract the service out as it is done in several other municipalities due to the limited staff and equipment resources currently available. As such, it is a very reasonable assumption that the annual costs of a full windrow removal program, could exceed $1,500,000.\u201d
\nWindrow clearing has been a hot topic in Aurora, heating up significantly over the last winter, carrying through the 2018 Municipal Election campaign. These discussions, however, have not been limited to Aurora and many York Region municipalities, according to Mr. Tree, have looked into establishing similar programs. Thus far, the City of Vaughan is the only municipality in the Region to make it happen, clearing an estimated 80,000 driveways.
\n\u201cThe winter weather event that happened April 13 \u2013 15, 2018, was one of the most significant ever recorded in that the combination of well below normal temperatures and the heavy accumulation of ice pellets over a very prolonged 48-hour period made for some very unique and unprecedented road conditions,\u201d said Mr. Tree. \u201cAs a result, it became very necessary to plow the roads multiple times over a three-day period to remove an accumulation of up to 10 centimetres of frozen ice pellets throughout the municipality. Unfortunately, this led to significant frozen ice being deposited at the entrance to virtually every private driveway in Town and rendering many driveways impassable.\u201d
\nAs a result of this, Mr. Tree added that Access Aurora (those fielding service calls and concerns at Town Hall) received 172 complaints from residents over the clearing of their windrow.
\n\u201cIn cases where there was a pressing medical urgency, Operations staff was able to assist; however, these requests were minimal and had no significant impact on our resources or primary responsibilities,\u201d said Mr. Tree. \u201cSimilar to Members of Council, our frontline Operations staff are well-positioned to understand many of the issues or problems facing our residents as staff are directly involved in the day to day operations, many of which have an impact on people\u2019s lives. The 172 complaints received represents less than 0.91 per cent of all property owners and only .03 per cent of Aurora\u2019s estimated 62,000 population. It is not assumed that the balance of homeowners and residents were satisfied with the Town\u2019s service level in this event, or that this single statistic is sufficient evidence to guide a decision on whether or not to implement a windrow clearing program; however, staff believe this finding should be considered in the larger picture surrounding this issue.\u201d
\nFilling in the gaps in this larger picture are potential conflicts with the placement and removal of garbage and recycling with windrow clearing equipment and how a windrow clearing program for seniors or \u201cmedically challenged\u201d residents would be validated.
\n\u201cThis process can be complicated and perhaps intrusive as very often a medical certificate must be obtained from the applicant\u2019s physician stating that the individual is not able to exert themselves,\u201d said Mr. Tree. \u201cWhile this may appear to satisfy the application process, it should not be considered to be effective in all cases and very often depending on the situation, a physician\u2019s note is not unreasonably withheld. Based on other municipalities\u2019 experiences in this regard, a sworn statement may also be required stating that there are no other able-bodied occupants residing in the subject property.\u201d
\nCouncil members will consider the matter at this week\u2019s General Committee, with their decision on whether to accept staff\u2019s recommendations to forego windrow clearing, proceed with the initiatives, or delay their decision for another day, ratified at the January 22 Council meeting.
\nWhatever the decision later this month, it is not likely to be the last time local lawmakers or residents alike will consider the issue, with Mr. Tree\u2019s report leaving the door open for further public consultation.
\nVaughan\u2019s decision to pick up windrow clearing, he notes, came after a municipal plebiscite was held and residents voted in favour of both the program and the increase in costs, increasing the tax rate by upwards of two per cent.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staff cite cost, logistics against end-of-driveway clearing <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5TZ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 14:01:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}