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Tuesday, November 27, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916

City prepared to face the snow Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca It’s now just a matter of time before the snow hits the streets and when it does, city roads and fleets manager Blake McIntosh says crews are ready to take on the white stuff. Trucks have been outfitted, sand and salt have been stockpiled, new employees trained and contractors confirmed, he said Monday during a meeting with local media. “We are definitely prepared for a snow event,” he said. A full deployment begins whenever the snowfall reaches 75 millimetres or three inches but for smaller snowfalls in between, contingents will be out plowing and sanding as needed, McIntosh added. Each winter, crews maintain 670 kilometres of road and 189 km of sidewalks. On average, they spread over 3,600 tonnes of fractured rock and 5,200 tonnes of sand. Along with clearing roads and streets, the work includes pushing back windrows, cutting ice on roadway shoulders in areas lacking curbs and gutters to allow melting snow to drain into ditches, replacing damaged culverts and patching potholes. At its disposal, the city has seven sanding/ plow trucks, seven graders, four sidewalk plowing and sanding machines, five loaders, one snow blowing loader and two anti-icing trucks. Through contractors, it has access to five graders, 11 loaders, 13 tandem dump trucks and two snow disposal site bulldozers. Also, the city parks department has its own equipment to remove snow and ice from civic facility parking lots, paths and trails, and other park areas: one backhoe, one Bobcat, one truck plow/sander, and three small tractors with attachments (snow blowers, snow blades or brooms). In part, the city relies on two weather stations – one at the north end and one in the southwest – to get a heads-up on when snow might be on its way. Road temperatures are also monitored. Goals and objectives for clearing snow remain unchanged. If at least 75 mm falls in a 24-hour period, the city will aim to clear so-called priority one routes – main arterial roads, the central business district, priority hills, streets adjacent to the hospital and civic facility entrances, priority parking lots,

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Blake McIntosh, city manager of roads and fleet, gives an update on city snow and ice control activities. and pathways – within 48 hours. The same holds true for priority two routes – namely bus routes that are not main arterial roads and all commercial and industrial roads. If more than 120 mm has fallen, priority three routes – residential roads and lanes, all remaining civic facilities parking lots and select park facilities, parking lots, trails, and pathways – are to be cleared within 72 hours of priority one and two routes being completed. Residents can help by adhering to onstreet parking restrictions. In residential areas, the practice is prohibited from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. but allowed on the side of the street with odd house numbers from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. unless otherwise posted. Likewise, on-street parking on priority

one roads and hills is prohibited from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and, in the downtown, from midnight to 7 a.m. Violators are subject to a $50 fine and their vehicles may be towed. “It can be quite a large issue, especially when we get larger volumes,” McIntosh said. “If people aren’t abiding by the parking restrictions... it makes it difficult for that residential area.” Plowing around vehicles is out of the question, he said, because crews would still have to go back in a second time to remove the snow once the driver has dug the vehicle out. “If people abide by the bylaw, it definitely makes our job more efficient,” he said. McIntosh preached patience should the city get hit with a snowfall on the scale of

the one that struck last February. “It was a challenge because we had to reset the clock a few times,” he said. “It snowed, stopped, we started plowing the main arterials, and then it would snow again and we reset the clock. “Really, the idea is to keep the main arterials open first because they carry the largest volume of traffic.” In all, about a metre of snow fell in that month which translated into about 13,000 dump truck loads (up to 500 per day) equaling 261,900 cubic metres of snow going to the city’s disposal sites near 18th Avenue and Foothills Boulevard and Guay Road. That’s enough to fill CN Centre four times and was roughly equal to the yearly average over the previous three snow seasons.

B.C. finance minister says budget on track, province to lead country in growth Citizen news service VICTORIA — Finance Minister Carole James says British Columbia’s economic growth remains “strong and stable” and the budget is on track to record a surplus in the 2018-19 fiscal year. James said Monday the operating debt, which builds up when tax or other revenue misses spending pledges made in a budget, has been reduced to zero for the first time in four decades. The province’s second quarter results for this fiscal year show a projected surplus of $1.35 billion, she said. The Finance Ministry forecasts GDP growth of 2.2 per cent this year, while the value of all goods and services produced by the province is forecast to climb by 1.8 per cent in 2019. James said risks facing the province include a $250-million drop in Crown

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corporation earnings, mainly due to losses at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, as well as a slowing down of the housing market. To offset those risks, she said a fund that covers potentially volatile revenue changes has been increased by $600 million. “That additional prudence is very critical... to help mitigate any kind of provincial revenue impacts,” she said. The B.C. Liberals say property tax revenues are expected to decline by at least $400 million, which means the province is becoming more dependent on personal and corporate income tax revenue. Shirley Bond, one of the party’s finance critics, says they are concerned about the tax burden on business because of government plans to charge medical service plan premiums and the employer health tax in 2019. “The burden is compounded with the

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introduction of the new speculation tax and the devastating effects it is already having on the construction industry with cancelled housing starts and lost jobs, as well as continued increases to the carbon tax and an increase to the corporate tax rate,” she said in a news release. James said RBC and other analysts remain positive about economic growth in B.C., forecasting the province will remain a leader in Canada this year and next, even before the benefits of a liquefied natural gas development in Kitimat are added to projections over the next several months. “Private forecasters expect that B.C.’s economic growth will be strong. In fact, they are predicting that we are going to lead the provincial rankings in 2019,” she said. The 2019-20 budget will be released Feb. 19, along with the third quarterly report.

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