Snow removal manager says Kelowna needs to bump up winter service

KELOWNA – With spring here and summer on the way, it’s hard to think about winter but Kelowna council is going to have do just that during a request for an increase in the annual snow removal budget.

With demand for service increasing along with the complexity of what crews have to clear, city public works manager Darryl Astofooroff wants council to consider his preferred option which is a straight up $400,000 increase.

"Growth, narrow hillside road designs, on-street bike lanes, cycle tracks and multi-use corridors have all added to the challenges of snow removal,” Astofooroff says in his report to council. "There is no pattern within the weather data to accurately forecast for the future.”

Failing that, Astofooroff would like a smaller increase of $265,000, equal to the average annual shortfall over the last two years. The budget for snow removal for this last winter season was $1.6 million.

Even if council is unwilling to increase his budget, he is also recommending new snow routes be added for next season to Black Mountain, Kirschner Mountain and Academy Way neighbourhoods.

After the "snow event" that began December 27, 2017 which dropped some 21 centimetres of snow on Kelowna over several days, Astofooroff said over 70 per cent of service requests came people living on local residential roads.

Annual service requests neared 1,400 in 2015 and 2017, according to the report, which were two of the heaviest snow seasons in the last decade.

Kelowna councillors will consider the request at their regular public meeting, Monday, May 14, 1:30 p.m. in Kelowna city hall.

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