The city continues to work to clear up what sidewalks are maintained in the winter.
At Tuesday's Timmins council meeting, director of public works and environmental services Ken Krcel presented a long-awaited report looking at alternating winter sidewalk maintenance. Once council makes a decision, a bylaw will be brought back for approval.
“In short, our position is that we don’t see a benefit to alternating which side of the street is maintained. There’s so few streets it’s actually applicable to that we feel it’s just going to cause confusion,” Krcel told council.
In the department's review of 47 streets and about 16 kilometres of sidewalk that could have alternating winter service, Krcel said there are 12 streets that had "any potential" of being cleared in alternating winters.
Staff is also recommending permanently changing the side of the street the sidewalk is being maintained on Dome, Essa and Montgomery, reducing service to one sidewalk on Commercial, eliminating sidewalk maintenance on Strachan, Coronation, Kent and Rochdale, and adding winter maintenance to Brundy Avenue that connects Schumacher and Gold Centre.
The Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee (MAAC) is not supportive of changing what sidewalks are maintained every year. The report says this is because MAAC feels "it would only serve to cause confusion and more difficulties for the visually impaired."
Now that the report has been tabled, councillors will be garnering feedback from residents on it.
The conversation on winter sidewalk maintenance started at the beginning of this council's term.
A staff report in May 2019 recommended formally closing the sidewalks not maintained during the winter with a bylaw. A decision was not made at that time. In November 2020, Timmins Mayor George Pirie asked for a debate on it later that month.
“Under the minimum maintenance standard, the municipality has the right to close certain sidewalks with a bylaw, which would protect the city from any potential liability for a slip and fall in the winter. Currently, we’re just going off past practice with our list of sidewalks. We’d just like to clean up the process and formalize it just to protect the municipality and be able to advise the public in a formal manner,” explained Krcel this week.
There was support around the table for maintaining the status quo and having public consultation.
Coun. Michelle Boileau said a presentation would help the public works team explain the decisions and the considerations taken in making the recommendations.
“I’d like you to have a chance to prepare a presentation to be able to show to the public the different complexities when doing this kind of planning and also present the recommendations that you’re putting forward,” she said.
Coun. Cory Robin would also like the bylaw to include a way for residents to approach the city for potential changes.
Pirie said the comments he's received about alternating service have been in the Rochdale and Westmount area.
“They’ve been largely centred around that area and they’re consistent year after year, all they really wanted was an alternative to switch the sides every year. What I’m hearing then is, of course, we want to have some dialogue with the citizens that are affected and there’s been a few that have been consistent in their comments,” he said.
Potential changes
Right now, there are 177 kilometres of sidewalks in Timmins. Public Works maintain about 118 kilometres year-round. In the winter, the remaining sidewalks are unmaintained and used for snow storage from road plowing, according to the report.
The streets being considered for a change in service and the staff recommendation are:
- Rochdale from Westmount to Victoria could have alternate sidewalk service or end winter sidewalk service because Dieppe, located one block west, is maintained and there's a crossing guard at the corner of Dieppe and Victoria.
- Rea Street North from Algonquin to Laurie could be alternated. Staff recommend against it because there are no homes on the east side of the street and plowing that that side "does not service the needs of the residents" in the area.
- Balsam Street North from Fifth to Ninth could have alternate sidewalk service. Staff suggests a public consultation.
- Birch Street North from Fifth to Ninth could alternate service. Staff suggests a public consultation.
- Maple Street North from Algonquin to Ninth could alternate service. Staff suggests a public consultation.
- Elm Street North from Algonquin to Sixth could alternate service. Staff suggests a public consultation.
- Belanger from Mountjoy to Mattagami could alternate service. If that were to happen, staff suggest adding the block from Fogg to Mattagami that is not currently serviced. Public consultation is recommended.
- Commercial from Mountjoy to Mattagami. The entire north side is currently serviced and the south side maintenance is done from Mounjoy to Cloutier. Alternating sides is possible. Staff suggest closing the south side annually. Public consultation is recommended.
- Kent Street from Mountjoy to Cameron. The suggestion is to end winter maintenance because St. Charles school is no longer open.
- Montgomery from to Rea South. The south side is serviced to Rea where the sidewalk ends. Staff suggests closing the south side and maintaining the north side to Cameron.
- Coronation from Mountoy to Wilcox. The suggestion is to end the service because there's an alternate route with crossing guards on Sterling.
- Elm Street from Third to Dale could have alternate service. Staff notes residents on the one-way street use the east sidewalks for driveway parking. Public consultation is suggested.
- Maple Street South from Third to Dale could have alternate service. Residents on the one-way street use the east sidewalks for driveway parking. Public consultation is suggested.
- Balsam Street South from Kirby to Ogden could have alternate sidewalk service. Public consultation is suggested.
- Brundy from the District School Board North East office to Gold Centre. Staff recommends the city start maintaining the sidewalk.
- Essa from Huot to Moore. Staff suggest closing the south side from Crawford to Moore and maintaining the entire length of the north side in the winter.
- Dome from Huot to Moore. Staff suggest closing the south side from Crawford to Moore and maintaining the entire length of the north side in the winter.
- Bloor from Legion to Moore could have alternate sidewalk service. Public consultation is suggested.
- Bloor from Crawford to Lakeview could have alternate sidewalk service. Public consultation is suggested.
- Strachan from Legion to Moore. Staff suggest closing the sidewalk because it doesn't continue to the next block.
With feedback from council to reach out for input from residents, Krcel suggested returning to council with a resolution before November.
Pirie is pushing for a quicker turnaround.
“I would suggest this is fresh and let’s get this out of the way by the end of March, that’s what I would hope so it’s done. Because you know what happens over the summer, you’re thinking about other different stuff. Let’s see if we can get this all lined up by the end of March, how does that sound?" he said.
"We should be able to do that, I think. I think it’s almost resolved right now."
The full report with explanations and maps is available here.
