Voters told Taproot they want better snow and ice removal

The growing responses to Taproot's listening work with voters in the lead up to the 2025 municipal election in October reveal that many are concerned about snow and ice clearing — though they have myriad priorities for that service.

Earlier this year, Taproot launched our listening campaign at several in-person and virtual events, as well as a 2025 election question on our site. We have been gathering responses ever since, and at last count, more than 850 people have provided them. The listening was built around a simple question: "What issues do you care about as you consider who to vote for in the 2025 municipal election, and why?"

At least 34 respondents told Taproot that they are unsatisfied with the city's work clearing snow and ice. The most common concerns are lax enforcement for parking and sidewalk-clearing violations, whether the city is prioritizing its work to clear snow in the right places, and accessibility for pedestrians.

"As a disabled person who must walk daily, the ice and snow season is very challenging — I need safe walkways," one respondent said. "Too many residents simply don't shovel. Ever. Calls to 311 will get some action, but maybe (significant) fines will do the trick."

One person said better enforcement is "badly" needed. "Both for accessibility's sake, and as a revenue driver for the city. If people can't follow the rules, use them to help pay for better services for the rest of us."

However, another respondent said their neighbourhood has significant violations, but they don't want their neighbours, such as those surviving on low incomes in multi-family buildings, to receive more fines. Instead, the person suggested the city needs to find "creative solutions" for rule-breakers.

"Penalties like fines are harmful to these families, plus there's nowhere for them to put their vehicles, because they don't own a garage," they said. "Why not coordinate with the complex to have their residents put their vehicles in the nearby community league lot or the leisure centre overflow parking? It just takes a little more consideration to solve these things."

Respondents were split and slightly polarized on whether the city should spend more or less to clear snow from bike lanes and other active transportation infrastructure. One person said the city should dump the snow it clears from roads into those bike lanes. Another, meanwhile, said winter cities like Oulu, Finland, have figured out how to effectively keep residents biking throughout the winter.

Taproot has worked to explain the recent changes to the city's snow and ice clearing ahead of the Oct. 20 vote. We learned that costs are increasing, ticket values may change, towing might return, and budget changes are set for debate during the fall operating budget adjustment.

In 2021, council approved an administration pilot to clear residential streets to bare pavement. The snow and ice clearing budget was $58.5 million that season. The pilot ended after a 2022 report, which said the city lacked the resources to continue. Also in 2022, council voted to add a $4.7 million service package to its $63.6 million snow clearing budget for the coming winter. For 2023 to 2024, council budgeted $60.9 million for snow and ice removal, including a $4 million service package. The most recent season saw the city spend $67 million to clear snow and ice.

In October, city employees discussed changes to snow and ice removal on Speaking Municipally. They noted that the city was trying a new kind of salt and using new mapping tools for clearing on active pathways, among other things.

Fewer tickets in 2024

The City of Edmonton issued fewer tickets per day during parking bans in 2024 than during two of the three previous years. But those numbers have mitigating factors, as the city tweaks its implementation of the clearing strategy each year. Part of the city's strategy is education. Administration is working to balance enforcement and education with recommendations on parking-ban enforcement and resource allocation that it outlined in a report on June 16. Council's community and public services committee voted to recommend approving the smallest proposed budgetary increase, $100,000, which council will debate during the fall supplemental operating budget adjustment. This option calls for the return of vehicles being towed during parking bans, which was last budgeted during the 2022 to 2023 season.

The option headed to budget deliberations would also reduce the value of tickets for parking-ban violations, from $250 to $100. Tickets for parking ban violations were $100 before 2022, when they increased to the current $250.

Sidewalk access

Enforcement has a role to play in making sidewalks accessible during winter, a recent administration report said. Edmonton city council will consider a $9.5 million service package for enhanced sidewalk clearing and maintenance during its fall supplemental operating budget adjustment. The proposed package is split between $1.43 million for one-time funding and $8.07 million for ongoing funding.

The proposed enhancement plan has three pieces:

• For snow and ice remove removal, the city would increase its service for bus stops, sidewalks identified by the city's social vulnerability index, and schools that fall within contract zones for snow clearing
• For the sidewalk maintenance program, the city would repair 16.06 kilometres of sidewalk that are not scheduled for capital renewal in the next budget cycle
• For the bylaw enforcement program, the city would hire more municipal enforcement officers to conduct more proactive inspections as part of their duties

The city is responsible for almost 5,776 linear kilometres of sidewalks and spends $5.9 million on their maintenance each year.

Where resources go

The city spends 55% of its snow clearing budget on 11,000 linear kilometres of vehicle lanes and the remaining 45% on 1,500 linear kilometres of bike lanes, multi-use paths, public pedestrian squares, bus stops, LRT platforms, and staircases.

The city is changing the way it clears pathways. This past winter, it divided crews and resources between one block for roads and one block for everything else.

"(We do this) in order to prioritize both types of travellers at the same time, so our active pathways users can get prioritized as well as our roadways users," Valerie Dacyk, the general supervisor of infrastructure field operations with the City of Edmonton, told Taproot in October. "Nobody gets a higher level service than the other."