'A simple ask': Regina City Council amends sidewalk snow removal bylaw to include all property owners
Next year, Regina residents will not be able to wait for warmer weather to clear the snow from their sidewalks.
Under a city bylaw amendment, all property owners, residential and commercial, must clear snow and ice from their sidewalks within 48 hours of the snowfall.
Regina city council voted in favour of changing the Clean Property Bylaw at Wednesday’s meeting.
Councillor Bob Hawkins says the bylaw is about kindness and making the city more accessible in the winter.
“It’s a bylaw that says we want to be kind to our seniors who want mobility outside in the winter,” Hawkins said.
“We want to be kind to folks who are physically challenged … we want to be kind to visitors in Regina who want to get out in the winter and see the city.”
The amendment also prohibits residents from moving snow and ice from their walkway onto other areas of the sidewalk and bans them from moving snow more than two and a half metres from the curb onto public highways or parking lanes.
Hawkins addressed concerns from residents who question how clear the walkways need to be, saying those details shouldn’t hold back the changes to the bylaw.
“Those details can be worked out, but at root this is just a simple ask of the citizens of this city to be kind to their fellow citizens,” Hawkins said.
For the first year of the change, city administration says it will focus on educating residents about the amendment, rather than “aggressive enforcement.”
Those who do not comply could face a $100 fine plus the cost of the city to clear the walkway.
The city is allocating funds to “local entities,” including the volunteer-led snow angels program, to help people with disabilities, seniors and others who cannot shovel their own sidewalk.
Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton have similar snow removal policies.
According to a city report, Saskatoon’s compliance rates vary from 89 per cent to 94 per cent in the last three years.
In Regina, the snow removal compliance rate for commercial properties is more than 98 per cent.
Depending on how many people do not comply with the bylaw amendments, city administration could look into hiring additional bylaw enforcement officers for 2023.
The new bylaw comes into effect Jan. 1, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.