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WINTER MAINTENANCE AND ACCESSIBILITY OF CITY WALKWAYS
Councillor, J. Harris advised that he has received a concern from a resident regarding the ability to navigate the City's walkways to and from school with their children during the winter months. He described how the walkways are not currently maintained during the winter which makes them not accessible for those individuals with mobility issues and making them unsafe to navigate during icy conditions. He felt that these walkways were designed to connect City streets and to increase mobility by making walking more convenient for residents. Councillor, J. Harris advised that he is aware there are pedestrian walkways that may create potential challenges for the City to maintain during the winter. Councillor, J. Harris requested support from the Committee to have staff investigate the potential of winter maintenance for the street-to-street pedestrian walkways.
C. Dillon, Diversity Management and Accessibility Specialist commented that there are many variables in place regarding winter maintenance of pedestrian walkways.
C. Morton, Manager of Roads, Stormwater and Rail Operations provided an outline of the Council Policy related to Walkway Winter Maintenance. He advised that currently the City does not maintain walkways during the winter months and that maintenance does occur in the summer for vegetation clearing and general clean-up.
Mr. Morton commented that there are 98 street-to-street pedestrian walkways, 20 street to school pedestrian walkways and 120 other pedestrian walkways leading into parks and greenspaces. He described some potential challenges and barriers related to maintaining accessibility of the walkways during the winter months.
The Committee discussed winter maintenance and accessibility of City walkways year-round. The Committee agreed to have staff investigate the current walkway system to see if improvements could be made to safety and accessibility of the walkways that would ...
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