No sidewalk snow clearing or windrow maintenance coming this year as city puts pause on $19.6M service additions

The city’s plan to bring more snow clearing services that would have cost residents around $100 in fees has been put on ice for at least two more years.

Brampton City Council has been considering adding sidewalk snow clearing and windrow removal services to its snow removal operations – a plan that could cost more than $19.6 million every year and a tax levy of around 1.4 per cent.

A survey and public meetings have gathered feedback from residents on the services, which are expected to cost an extra $98 in property taxes, but city council says it needs more time and input before making a decision.

“It doesn’t really give us a true picture of whether residents are truly supporting this as a service or truly against the service,” Coun. Gurpartap Singh Toor said of a public survey that’s seen 7,608 respondents.

“It’s a good survey but not the greatest numbers to give us any confidence,” he said.

Some 52.6 per cent of respondents said they were in favour of the added services and costs for windrow removal, while 42 per cent were against. As for sidewalk clearing, 55 per cent were for while

Toor has asked staff to keep the survey running through the 2024-2025 snow clearing season to gather more feedback “when people will pay more attention” to their snow removal needs.

“I think it will give us more information, more data that would possibly help us make a decision, perhaps for next winter,” he said.

But staff say it will take at least until the winter 2026-2027 season to greenlight any sidewalk or windrow services. Windrows are snow piles left at the end of a driveway by passing plows.

Sidewalk clearing would cost the city some $2.6 million annually for an average of $12 per year in property taxes per household, while it would cost about $19.6 million – or $86 per year – to clear windrows from driveways.

Staff said the $19.6 million is made up of contract costs for labour and equipment, administration fees, snow removal making for the “most significant cost” in the windrow program.

A bulk of the costs come from snow removal services, staff said, as once the windrows are cleared crews need to come out and manually haul away piled snow.

Toor said the city’s hand may be urged to approve the services as Mississauga will be introducing a city-wide windrow-clearing program, pending budget approval, in time for winter 2025-26.

The survey is still running online and residents can share their views on the potential additional services by visiting www.Brampton.ca. Staff said the results will be shared with council in the spring.