The Municipality of Chatham-Kent (CK) has approved an increase to snow removal services on sidewalks for next winter and beyond.
On Monday night, council approved minor improvements to the current level of service. The motion included administration returning to council at a later date with required by-law amendments and financial implications of "minor improvements" that can be made for the 2026-2027 winter and into the future.
Councillor Alysson Storey modified the motion, explaining that multiple residents reached out to her during this winter about a lack of snow removal at transit stops.
Storey created a third part to the motion, asking administration to create a report with details and costs associated with clearing transit stops at arterial roads and any additional stops that staff identify to be considered in the 2027 Budget process. She added that the snow removal be of a width that includes accessibility considerations.
In regard to the minor improvements, according to staff, one approach to increasing the level of service would be to keep the same approach with a by-law requiring residents to salt adjacent sidewalks, but expand the downtown business areas to a much larger priority network.
Public Works currently removes snow and salts sidewalks in downtown business areas and removes snow on all other sidewalks within 48 hours when there's more than eight centimetres of accumulation. Residents adjacent to all other sidewalks are also required to salt and/or sand the sidewalk to treat ice or face a fine.
A staff report showed the cost of delivering this service for the past three years was $651,143 last year, $203,383 the previous year, and $313,314 in 2023.
Staff noted the municipality has 410 kilometres (km) of sidewalks, and it costs an average of $300 per km for plowing and $350 per km for plowing and salting.
"The majority of sidewalks are concentrated in the communities of Chatham and Wallaceburg. The contracted rates in Erieau, for example, are many times higher than in Chatham due to equipment mobilization costs and fewer sidewalks," the report stated.
The municipality said it normally plows between two and 10 times per year. However, that number would jump to 20-40 times per year if ice were to be treated, as is the case in Chatham's core.
The motion passed 18 to zero.
