Winter Maintenance Control
Under the City’s policy for winter control operations, roadways and sidewalks located within the City will be serviced according to their class or priority designation.
For specific details please refer to the winter maintenance policy, available for reference at the Gord Watts Municipal Centre, 251 North Augusta Road, Brockville, Ontario.
View the winter maintenance policy for all information pertaining to winter controls of roadways and sidewalks along with their classifications and priorities complete with schedules and map.
Significant Weather Events
The City of Brockville follows the Ontario Regulation 239/02, Minimum Maintenance Standards for Municipal Highways for the development of our Winter Maintenance Policy and priority that roads, sidewalks, pathways and parking lots are cleared.
The Minimum Maintenance Standards includes the ability for municipalities to declare a Significant Weather Event. A declaration of a Significant Weather Event alerts residents to the increased risks to local travel as a result of dangerous weather conditions.
What is a Significant Weather Event?
A “Significant Weather Event” is defined as an approaching or occurring weather hazard with the potential to pose a significant danger to users of the highways within a municipality.
Weather Hazards are determined by Environment Canada as meeting the criteria for the issuance of an alert under its Public Weather Alerting Program.
Why would the City need to declare a Significant Weather Event?
The intent of a declaration is to notify the public that due to the forecasted or current weather conditions, caution is to be exercised when travelling on the City’s sidewalks, roads, and pathways and that it will take longer than usual to restore them to the expected condition.
How will a declaration of a Significant Weather Event affect me?
This declaration pauses the Minimum Maintenance Standards timelines that have been communicated and allows city crews to address snow and ice accumulation on roadways, sidewalks, pathways and parking lots in the most practicable manner. This means that it will take city crews longer to clear the city of the hazards that the weather event will create throughout the City.
A winter weather parking ban will be called during a Significant Weather Event to ensure that crews are able to efficiently clear the roads. You should move any vehicles from roadways to create a clear path for crews to work.
What should a resident do when they see the City of Brockville has declared a Significant Weather Event?
- During such an event, residents are encouraged to limit travel to only essential trips outside of their home. Those who cannot are reminded to exercise caution based on the conditions of the transportation network, and to offer our snow clearing vehicles space to do their jobs.
- During a Significant Weather Event, the City’s winter operations will continue. They will continue to clear and treat the roads, sidewalks, and pathways: the work will just take longer to complete. The additional time required is the reason why the Event is declared.
- Residents will be alerted to an upcoming parking ban. Residents should move their vehicles off roadways to create a clear path for crews to work.
- During a Significant Weather Event, all available resources will be deployed, and the City will be asking residents to refrain from calling the Operations Department or creating a service request for anything other than an emergency.
- The City will ensure that residents are always aware of the weather conditions and ask that residents watch for Significant Weather Event alerts and exercise patience while crews complete the work.
Declarations will be posted on the City’s homepage.
How will I know the City has declared a Significant Weather Event?
When a Significant Weather Event has been declared, the City will:
- Post a notice on the City of Brockville website.
- Provide an update on the City’s Facebook Page.
When the event has ended, the City will also post the notice indicating the Significant Weather Event has been lifted using the same tools.
How long will a Significant Weather Event be in place?
This declaration will remain in place until the City formally declares the Significant Weather Event has ended. Once an event has ended, standard timelines for winter maintenance activities will resume.
Is Brockville the only city that declares Significant Weather Events?
Many cities and municipalities in Ontario declare Significant Weather Events. Under the Ontario Regulation 239/02, Minimum Maintenance Standards for Municipal Highways, made under the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended, municipalities have been given the authority to declare a Significant Weather Event when a weather hazard is approaching or occurring and has the potential to pose a significant hazard to users of the roads, sidewalks, pathways in which the municipality has authority over.
Based on the legislation, a municipality may declare a Significant Weather Event when Environment Canada has issued an alert under its Public Weather Alerting Program. The municipality must also determine that an approaching or occurring winter event locally meets the criteria for a weather hazard, and in its judgment, also poses a significant danger to users of the highway.
Driveway Entrance Clearing
It can be expected that snow will be plowed into driveways as a normal part of roadway and sidewalk snow clearing operations. Owners of properties which the driveways service will be responsible for removal of the snow deposited in those entrances by city snow clearing operations.