Sidewalk snowclearing by-laws

One huge challenge to walkability and accessibility in winter is the way property owners and private contractors dump snow cleared from driveways and parking lots onto sidewalks. This was discussed recently at the St. John’s: The Winter Unfriendly City Facebook group. I’m going to summarize the discussion here so it can be found again later.

According to Councillor Maggie Burton in this thread, this is permitted as long as the sidewalk isn’t part of the City’s sidewalk snowclearing program. This means it’s permitted on about 90% of sidewalks! However, it’s also very common on sidewalks that are part of the program, as in this photo, showing a huge mound of snow on the sidewalk between 56 Queen’s Rd. and 46-54 Queen’s Rd. where the building owners on both sides have cleared their parking areas onto the sidewalk between them.

People frequently complain to the city about this practice and are told that nothing can be done unless they can prove who did it, as in not the property owner but the actual person who put the snow there. So the onus is on the complainant to either track down the property owner and find out who did their snowclearing (if they can be tracked down and are willing to share that information) or to see the person in action and photograph them or get their license plate if they happen to have a vehicle. It also requires constant monitoring, documenting and complaining to the city on the part of sidewalk users, as well as the unpleasant possibility of confrontation.

So, what are the by-laws that apply here?

At the city’s snowclearing priority page it says, “St. John’s Snow Removal regulations require properties adjacent to designated downtown streets to keep their sidewalks clear of ice and snow.” So “properties,” not “persons.” But the actual by-law (1098) does use the word “person” in some places and “abutter” in others. An “abutter” is defined as a lessee, owner or occupant of a property and, on some specific downtown streets, abutters are required to clear snow from sidewalks in front of their properties. But in the case of people depositing snow on sidewalks, the word used is “person.” The same by-law states, “No person shall deposit snow or ice upon any street or sidewalk which street or sidewalk is cleared of snow or ice by the City” and “No person engaged in removing snow or ice from any property or other premises shall do so in any manner that obstructs vehicular traffic on a street or pedestrian traffic on a sidewalk.” So “abutters” are responsible for removing snow in certain areas but “persons” are responsible for not blocking sidewalks. Can this wording be changed? Councillor Burton said on the Facebook thread that she would look into it so I’ll update later when we have an answer.

The bigger question is why these by-laws aren’t enforced, considering that these piles of snow force people to risk life and limb by walking out into busy streets. An ATIPP in 2020 revealed that between 2016 and 2020 not a single fine was levied to enforce by-law sections 7 and 8 against blocking sidewalks. Still, changing the wording of the by-law would at least mean the city would have to think about the law, and would no longer be able to use this particular excuse for doing nothing.