City’s preparations for winter are “snow” joke!
Sign up for plow out email alerts at guelph.ca/snow!
Guelph, Ont., November 9, 2018 – You may not be thinking about snow yet, but the City of Guelph is already knee deep in winter maintenance plans to keep all all roads, bike lanes and sidewalks safe.
“Trucks and sidewalk plows are prepped and ready, salt is piled up at the Salt Management Facility and Plow Tracker is up and running,” says Doug Godfrey, general manager of Operations at the City of Guelph.
Each year, the City prepares for two kinds of winter maintenance: normal operations with sanding and salting, and major weather events that require a plow out. A plow out is announced after a total of 10 centimetres of snow has fallen. During a plow out, residents are asked to remove their cars from City streets and the parking exemption for overnight on-street parking is suspended for 48 hours. The City budgets for six plows out every season.
“It can take up to 48 hours after a storm for us to clear all roads, and up to three days to clear 660 kilometres of sidewalks,” Godrey says. “That’s why it’s important in those first couple of days for residents to be a little patient — our crews are doing their best.”
The City’s sidewalks alone, if stretched end-to-end, would reach from Guelph to Montreal.
Self serve winter maintenance tools:
There are a two ways residents can check in on what the City is doing to maintain City streets, bike lanes and sidewalks.
- Sign up for plow out email alerts HERE for information residents need to know during the first 24 hours
- Check Plow Tracker to see the City’s trucks in real time
Help the City clear snow from sidewalks, storm drains and fire hydrants:
Residents can lend a hand during major snow events by:
- Clearing storm drains to prevent streets from flooding
- Clearing a path around fire hydrants for easy access for emergency services
- Shovelling sidewalks and windrows for elderly and disabled residents and signing up for Snow Angels
- Driving slow and never passing a snow plow
We were honoured today to raise the Hindu flag at city hall for the first time! Many thanks to the Hindu Society of Guelph for making this happen!
Many spoke of the wonderful contributions made in our city over many years by those from the Hindu Society, which started in Guelph 46 years ago!
We were joined by Councillor Downer to bring greetings and raise the flag.
Thank you to everyone who made this happen and we look forward to raising it each November during Hindu Heritage Month.
Frozen pipes isn’t a good thing folks! At all! The City has great resources available for you to get informed on this before the cold season comes!
Check it out HERE!
Time to trim the tree…for snow clearance
Okay, well you don’t need help us with that tree in the picture! But we still need your help! Read on…
Guelph, Ont., November 7, 2018 – The City is preparing for winter and reminds residents that any privately-owned trees or shrubs that hang onto City sidewalks need to be trimmed to allow for winter sidewalk maintenance.
“In previous years we have found that private trees and bushes that hang out onto the sidewalk, often weighed down by heavy snow, prevent our machinery from clearing the sidewalks well and in some cases, at all,” says Terry Dooling, manager of Public Works with the City of Guelph.
The City is asking all residents to look carefully at their privately-owned trees and bushes that encroach on sidewalks before the snow flies and appropriately trim everything back. Trees that hang over sidewalks lower than eight feet will prevent sidewalk plows from passing safely.
City staff will be out in the coming weeks to trim and clear City-owned trees in advance of the winter season.
Bylaw Compliance Officers will be checking public right of ways and sidewalks to ensure that privately-owned trees and shrubs are not encroaching. Any resident with an encroachment will receive a notice and a time frame to help the City clear trees and shrubs. If trimming is not kept up, City bylaw will trim where appropriate and bill the residents for this work.
“We really need everyone’s help to keep sidewalks free from overhanging trees and shrubs,” adds Dooling. “We want everyone to be able to get where they need to go safely, including our winter control operators.”
If residents are unsure of whether their tree’s ownership, they can check the tree ownership map on the City’s website.
For more information:
Terry Dooling, Manager
Public Works, Operations
City of Guelph
519-822-1260 extension 3346
terry.dooling@guelph.ca
Please find below links to the November 19, 2018 Agendas as follows:
November 19, 2018 – 5:30 p.m. – Committee of Management for the Elliott Agenda
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