'Very inconvenient': Regina residents voice concerns over city snow clearing

Residents around Regina are voicing concerns over the city’s residential snow clearing efforts this season.

In particular, ridges along the sides of residential streets are causing problems for some people.

“They don’t leave anywhere for residents to park,” Cassandra Fowler, a resident of the Greens on Gardiner neighbourhood, said.

“It’s very inconvenient. Our vehicles could get hit on the road, we could lose windows or doors when we’re getting out, also trying to get over the ridges to put groceries in the house.”

Fowler said she reached out to the city to voice her frustration.

“They came back with, ‘it’s privilege to park on the street and in the winter time, the street parking is to put their snow ridges.’” she said.

Like Fowler, Mitch Blyth lives on a street in the Greens on Gardiner where homes have no driveways. He relies on the street to park.

“The snow clearing itself on the general road has been good,” Blyth said.

“The problem I have with it is they bank it on the sides. Not one side, but both sides [of the street] so it eliminates all the parking on our whole block because we don’t have driveways.”

Blyth said he would like the city to revisit its plowing plan so that neighbourhoods without driveways aren’t left with ridges.

The City of Regina declined an interview, but in a statement said its crews are following the Winter Maintenance Policy and budget which was approved by council in 2020.

“We will evaluate the policy after the winter season and we can make recommendations to change it accordingly,” the statement said.

In the Lakeview neighbourhood, some residents say communication from the city about its clearing schedule has not been clear.

According to the city, all residential plowing was complete on Monday. It said crews do not go back into neighbourhoods to plow a second time.

But one Lakeview resident said a plow has gone by her block at least twice since Monday.

“I saw the date they were doing it, wonderful. We moved our cars but not everyone did. Some people knew that [the city] wasn’t actually removing the snow, so they left their cars because they were worried they’d never be able to park again,” the resident said.

“On Wednesday, a snow plow came and went down our street and built up the ridges along the cars. I checked the app and there was no notification.”

Another Lakeview resident said the snow clearing has been okay, but the snow removal is non-existent.

“When you have no snow removal, you are pretty much blocked in with your vehicle. You’re blocked off from sidewalks. In some instances, we are blocked out of driveways,” resident Juanita Zaiser said.

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While some residents say they’d like to see the city make changes to its snow clearing plans, others would like to see improved communication.

“We’re going to be dumped on a lot more and this should be considered when they plan their snow removal or their budget. It’s got to be in a plan,” Zaiser said.

“Don’t just plow up the snow and leave it in three feet ridges. Remove it.”

City crews are currently removing snow along category 1-3 roads. Residential streets are not included in those categories.

The city said citizens can call Service Regina to have ridges cleared if they are blocking access to transit stops.

The city does not clear all snow ridges, saying it would cost an additional $8-10 million each year and would take an extra seven weeks to complete.