Two-foot rule only a guideline, says city head of public works

The two-foot rule Saultites have been hearing and talking so much about recently is actually only a guideline, says Larry Girardi, deputy CAO, public works and engineering services.

And, it only applies to times the city has scraped down the roads, not to regular snow removal, he told city councillors on Monday.

Sault Ste. Marie City Council was discussing the heavy issue of ice and snow-pack buildup at the ends of driveways when the issue of the two-foot 'guideline' came up.

Girardi explained that, if people call in to public works to complain about the amount of material left at the end of their driveways after city workers have scraped the road down, a supervisor will go out to inspect the driveway in question, and to measure the depth of material in the driveway.

If the supervisor finds the material is more than two feet deep he or she may decide to have it cleared at the city's expense.

But sometimes that creates more problems for the city, he explained.

Sometimes city staff clearing driveways have to leave that task and return to clearing snow elsewhere, Girardi said. We end up with the neighbours of people whose driveways were cleared complaining theirs were not.

With the Sault getting in excess of three or four hundred snow events a year, said Girardi, it's pretty certain crews working on driveways will be called away before they're finished.

Ward 2 Councillor Susan Myers was the mover on a motion passed by council on Monday that asks city staff to report back to City Council on February 20, 2018 outlining the policy and procedure as to when the city will remove the heavier material and when it will not.

The resolution also says there is a two-foot rule 'applicable for snowfall and normal plow operations.'

Myers went on to say she would be asking staff to find out about equipment that could be used to clear all driveways whenever the city scrapes down the roads. 

"We have 30,000 driveways, a grader can go past two to three thousand of them in a night when we are scraping," Girardi said. "In reality, we couldn't clean all those driveways. No we couldn't. We don't have the equipment." 

Ward 1 Councillor Steve Butland said he didn't think it was feasible to expect the city to clean all the driveways after a grader has passed.

"We need to be realistic," he said. "We are never ever, ever, going to be able to do that across the city. Impossible, no, we can do it but it is going to be upwards of a million dollars."

Ward 5 Councillor Marchy Bruni said the city should investigate the idea of clearing driveways after graders pass.

"The concern is when the city scrapes our streets," he said. "Especially if it's during the day, when most people are at work. By the time they come home sometimes it's rock hard and they can't move it. They can't get into their driveways."

Bruni said it's a health issue, especially for seniors. 

He said he's seen city sidewalk blowers doing the ends of driveways after graders have passed and that those were fast, efficient and effective. 

He thought this might be a viable alternative to using plows and/or graders.

Myers and her wardmate Sandra Hollingsworth agreed that the heavy, icy, windrows were a big concern for Sault residents.

Both said they'd gotten a significant number of calls from constituents who were having difficulty handling the deep and heavy windrows left by grading. They also said several callers complained windrows were so solid and heavy their snow blowers were broken when they tried to clear the ends of their driveways. 

"We might have to spend money to better service people that in the end is going to give us better service in the community but also save us money," Myers said.

She suggested money spent sending supervisors out to measure windrows could be better spent.