sidewalks

Following years of resident complaints, the city of Saint John is making changes to its snow clearing services.

At Monday’s meeting, council approved a multi-phase plan to improve winter maintenance.

The plan stems from an internal audit of the city’s Winter Management Plan and operations. Following the review by KPMG, the city received 12 recommendations, which staff used to develop the strategy.

According to public works director Tim O’Reilly, the plan aims to improve current operations before expanding services.

“The sidewalk street deliverables, we are going to hang onto those as they are; that’s kind of step one,” he said.

O’Reilly explained future expansion plans will be shaped by community consultation that will likely be arranged sometime this winter or the next.

Other objectives include putting more resources into priority areas, particularly increasing service standards for sidewalks in the South-Central Peninsula.

This would include upgrading sidewalks to mirror transit routes and creating pedestrian connectivity routes through the peninsula, such as Duke, Crown, Sidney and Camarthens Street.

The plan also aims to introduce additional priority street plowing service standards to address more than 100 rural roads in Saint John.

Coun. Eric Savoie supports the focus on priority areas but said urban streets like Wentworth must also be considered when expanding sidewalks.

“I just want to make sure that those folks that we are attracting to the uptown don’t have reasons to move back out to the suburbs,” he said.

Like Coun. Savoie, Coun. David Merrithew said other areas should also be considered for sidewalk clearing. He said discussions should not just focus on the south end peninsula, but should extend to all four wards, specifically targeting schools and transit routes.

He also cautioned council to remain mindful of budget constraints.

“We can’t spend the dollar only at once,” he said.

O’Reilly added that with the plan, sidewalks will be added to mirror transit routes and create connectivity for pedestrians throughout the peninsula.

Several councillors also raised concerns about the need for more communication and transparency about sidewalk clearing.

Coun. Ryan Moore said it can be difficult for residents to understand their street level, clear expectations, and sidewalk plowing schedules.

“I know in the grand scheme of the budget, [communications] it’s a small potato, but I think it’s becoming more and more important of a potato,” he said.

Following council’s approval of the plan, staff said they will work on conducting more community consultations to update residents on snow operations and gather public input on future expansion plans.

Staff also aim to conduct a study of facility needs to better support winter operations and asset management planning, and to create a playbook for service variables.