Heated sidewalks? Not going to happen, council decides

City council tonight firmly rejected a proposal by Ward 3 Coun. Angela Caputo to heat downtown sidewalks after learning the idea would quadruple the hotly contested $6-million cost of this summer's Queen Street reconstruction.

Susan Hamilton-Beach, the city's director of public works, advised councillors that heated sidewalks would add $25 million to the capital budget, plus an additional $1.5 million in annual operating costs.

Tom Vair, the Sault's new chief administrative officer, expressed concern that the last-minute addition could delay this year's planned rebuild of Queen from East to Bruce until 2025.

Tender documents for the project are expected to be released on March 27, with construction to begin after the May 24 long weekend.

World-class

Presenting her toasty-warm proposal to city council, Coun. Caputo made a $25-million speech.

“Not long ago," she said, "I was in a room where the term ‘world class’ was used. And the conversation was about different places around the world and the signature pieces that make their community a world-class destination."

"When I think about this, I really think that we are underselling ourselves. For too long we have allowed the the loudest voices – many times of naysayers – to beat us down and not allow us to explore every avenue and showcasing who we are and all that we have."

"I think that you know the thought of heated sidewalks in an environment like Sault Ste. Marie seems crazy. But I think that every idea that is outside of the box always sounds crazy until it's implemented and you'll start to see the benefits of it," Caputo said.

Her fellow council members said they appreciated her presenting new ideas, but they wanted nothing to do with a $25-million addition to this year's road construction spending. 

Civic centre once had heated walkways

Mayor Matthew Shoemaker recounted a story that he said recently retired CAO Malcolm White told him on several occasions.

When the civic centre first opened for municipal business in May, 1975, it had heated walkways on the front steps.

White said that the heating system only worked for about one year.

Every time the heaters were turned on, they shook the whole building because of the large quantities of energy they used.

"As it turned out, they never worked as they were intended to, Shoemaker said.

"I'm sure the technology has advanced in many ways since then, but I think our winters are simply too cold, snowy and all that for this technology to succeed," the mayor said.

Seconded by Sonny Spina

Coun. Caputo's sidewalk resolution was seconded by Ward 1's Sonny Spina, who said he did it to further discussion.

"The last time Queen Street had a reconstruction was about 50 years ago. So we're in a position now where it's about to be reconstructed again, and we're going to live with it for the next 50 years," Spina said.

"Coun. Caputo brought this motion forward. I think it's important for us to explore all options when we know that we're going to be living with something for 50 years and to get all of the answers that we need to make a fully informed decision.”

"So I'm happy that she brought this forward for discussion here tonight to talk about how we can improve our community," Spina said.

Would heated sidewalks work here?

Caputo's resolution mentioned three other communities that had successfully implemented and maintained heated sidewalks: such as Reykjavik, Iceland; Edmonton, Alberta; and Holland, Michigan.

Spina asked whether winters in those places is comparable to the Sault.

"What we learned when we just did our our winter control audit is that we are an exception and we are looking at an average in recent years of 320 centimetres of snow. So that's over 10 feet through a season. That's not what we're getting this year, but it is absolutely the average, by our data," Hamilton-Beach told him.

Hamilton-Beach expressed concern that water run-off from heated sidewalks might not be able to get to catchbasins because of the way the city clears snow.

"That's absolutely a concern of ours. As we're all well aware, we plow to the side at this point in time and we end up with a berm or a bank that abuts the sidewalk and or the boulevard

"So it's certainly our understanding with this type of system that that bank would need removal on a constant basis. If you're looking at maintenance costs and obstacles, you would have to have that pathway for the water that's melted to in fact get to the catchbasins which are generally in line with the curb and gutter," she said.

Heated sidewalks can handle fresh-fallen snow but not packed snow placed there by plows, Hamilton-Beach said, adding: "In our maintenance opinion and public works opinion it would not be advisable."

Reykjavik, Iceland and Holland, Michigan

Ward 1 Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth pointed out that Reykjavik, Iceland's sidewalks are heated by geothermal energy from that nation's volcanic activity.

In Holland, Michigan, sidewalks are warmed with waste heat from a power plant conveniently located a few blocks from that city's downtown, at an annual maintenance cost of $8 million, Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth said she'd sooner see that kind of money invested in new 'wow' components for the city, or given to merchants to create a themed downtown like Niagara-on-the-Lake.

She'll be back

Caputo is nonetheless determined to continue bringing fresh ideas to city council.

“No matter the result of this decision tonight," she said, "I will continue to bring forward ideas to revitalize not only what the area of the downtown looks like – because I think that is what we focus on, what the downtown looks like – but how folks in our community can enjoy it and better interact in the downtown."

"I think we can make the downtown look as beautiful as we want, but the reality is five months of the year it's absolutely covered in snow.

"Doing this could really improve accessibility for folks with mobility issues," Caputo said.

"Myself as a mom, I know what it's like trying to push a stroller through a bunch of snow, and for a lot of elderly folks who we are seeing occupy the downtown.

"But even if we cannot make this idea a reality, I think we need to look at how we are presenting ourselves and how we care for our assets," Caputo said.