The Municipality of Jasper is giving owners a break this winter when it comes to snow and ice removal for sidewalks in front of destroyed properties.
Council directed administration to adjust enforcement service levels for these sidewalks during its Tuesday (Oct. 24) meeting.
Christine Nadon, director of protective and legislative services, told council that snow and ice removal for sidewalks was not practical for properties damaged or destroyed in the wildfire, particularly those rendered uninhabitable.
Under the traffic safety bylaw, leaseholders are responsible for keeping the sidewalk in front of their property free of snow and ice over the winter months.
Nadon recommended council provide a service level directive to the bylaw enforcement team rather than modifying the bylaw, which would be a cumbersome process and would have to be reverted in the spring.
Administration will return to council with alternate service level approaches to ensure walkability in the community this winter. This will include potential financial implications for the municipality.
“The operations department is working on something, and we will get together as the traffic advisory committee to review what that looks like,” Nadon said.
For obstructions on sidewalks in general, Nadon said the focus was for the bylaw to work with residents and businesses to meet their needs.
“As long as there’s no public safety hazard, we’re quite lenient about things,” she said. “We have started to resume more of a normal level of enforcement, but we’re still very much in the mindset of supporting people through recovery.”
The municipality and the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre will be working to streamline any directives on permits required to close sidewalks for recovery and reconstruction activities.
Administration won’t require a service level directive from council for this as varying the application process is within its scope of authority.
