THUNDER BAY - A member of Thunder Bay city council is asking her colleagues to lower the threshold for plowing snow from residential streets starting this winter.
Northwood councillor Shelby Ch'ng has requested a change to the roads maintenance objectives, which currently require local streets to be cleared once 10 cm of snow has accumulated on the roadway surface.
Her motion to drop the guideline to an accumulation of 5 cm will be presented to council at its meeting on Monday evening.
"When we get a high volume of snow in residential areas, it often doesn't get cleared out for three days, and that's usually the max...A number of people are actually having a lot of difficulty getting out of their houses," Ch'ng told Tbnewswatch.com in an interview on Thursday.
She said the city has a high elderly population, and a lot of people have to go places on foot.
"Last year one lady was trying to cross the street to get to church. She had a nasty fall and she broke her nose. This is an elderly woman in her eighties, living in her home, still highly functional and she fell."
Ch'ng said that kind of situation doesn't sit well with her, and she thinks improving street-clearing is something the city can do to rectify it.
Asked about the cost of implementing the change, she noted that residents get upset when they see plows with their blades going down arterial roads that appear to have no snow on them,"because the bylaw says you wait so long or so much snow has to accumulate first before you hit the residential streets...I'm sure there was a reason for it....I just don't think that reasoning is working out so well for the residents."
Ch'ng said she had initially asked for another plow truck to be added for residential street-clearing.
She's not sure how much support she might get for her motion from her council colleagues, but said it's up to them whether she is given the time at Monday's meeting to explain her rationale.
Debate on any amendment to a previous council resolution requires the prior approval of two-thirds of council.
