It’s going to be fresh snow on fresh concrete, so Lac La Biche County officials want a fresh approach for downtown merchants when it comes to winter cleaning of the new sidewalks and Main Street upgrades this winter season.
The freshly planted street trees along the new sidewalks will also need some delicate handling through the winter months, says Lac La Biche County’s Manager of Transportation Services Dave McPhee.
The sidewalks and new trees will be on a strict salt diet over the winter months, says McPhee, explaining that municipal crews rarely use salt in the sand mix when dealing with snow and ice in the downtown area — but some merchants may.
The salt will hurt the new trees, the municipal Transportation boss said, detailing concerns coming from a horticulturist who is part of the $31.5 million Main Street project's construction team.
There’s been some discussion around the construction table, the project management table, as to how they can have a successful warranty period,” said McPhee. “The horticulturalist has had some concerns about allowing salt and chemicals and ‘melters’ on the sidewalk on new trees…. As well as the cement contractor as well, has some concerns as well because the cement is going to be so green (not completely hardened) for the first couple of years.”
Salt isn’t the only concern as the winter season approaches; heavy snow-clearing equipment and abrasive cleaning techniques could also affect the new concrete poured for the new sidewalks, curbs, and aprons in a large portion of the downtown area. McPhee also said that that until cement has properly cured, and foundations have properly settled, equipment weighing more than 1,000 lbs won’t be allowed on the sidewalks.
Since May, an entire block of the downtown core has been blocked for construction in Phase 2 of a three-phase construction project to replace aging underground utilities and update surface features in the Lac La Biche downtown. The current construction phase is expected to be completed by the end of October … maybe early November, say municipal officials.
Costs for clearing
When the construction barriers come down, those same official hope to have downtown merchants educated on proper maintenance of their sidewalks.
McPhee had several options to help local businesses clear the snow while protecting the new sidewalks and features.
In the first one, businesses with new sidewalks would be hands-off when it comes to regular snow-clearing, with municipal crews and specialized equipment handling all sweeping and clearing. McPhee said storage boxes filled with sand and ‘buckshot’ would likely be set up along the sidewalks if conditions warranted immediate attention from merchants. That option, he said, comes with a budget over the next five years of about $600,000. That cost would include at least $50,000 for the purchase of a new, lightweight snowblower because the municipality’s current inventory of machinery is too heavy to go on the new sidewalks until the concrete has cured, says McPhee, referring again to discussions around the project management table.
“We are talking a push-behind or a small ride-on that is less than a thousand pounds is what they would like to see used on the sidewalks during these warranty periods,” he said, “which rules out bobcats and equipment that the County has already.”
Another option involved a contracted snow clearing agreement with a private company. That option, McPhee said would cost about $725,000 over five years.
A third option would see municipal crews clearing the curbs, new bulb-out features and around the new benches but leaving the business owners to clear snow from their main sidewalk area.
The last option would see the municipality only providing the sandboxes and leaving the individual property owners to clear all of their frontage to the roadway.
With each option, McPhee said an education campaign, urging residents against using salt or other potentially damaging materials, would be necessary.
We all know that at one time or another, someone may take some melt and just throw it out in front on their sidewalk … and we know that’s going to happen. But we can educate the businesses on the repercussions if they do that — losing trees, scraping all the sidewalks,” he said. “That will be an educational component that goes along with whatever option we choose.”
Helping, not 'babysitting'
That choice, when given to Lac La Biche County councillors ended up being a combination of two options.
Councillor Darlene Beniuk said downtown merchants are prepared to clean their own areas — but would likely appreciate help with some aspects of the new downtown layout.
“In front of the stores, I see no reason that the public, the people who own those stores wouldn’t take some pride and help out,” she said, describing anything more — especially when it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars — as unnecessary “babysitting” by the municipality. “Is it that difficult to clean the front of your store and make it welcoming by nature? I think this expense is atrocious… our businesses have cleaned their sidewalks for years – how much babysitting do we have to do?”
In the end, council agreed to have municipal crews take care of the roadway bulb-out features and around the benches, with business owners responsible for a share of the cleanup.
According to the snow removal bylaw and municipal policies adopted by council in October of 2022, residents and municipal crews have 24 hours after a snowfall to clear the sidewalks.
McPhee said last winter, following the approval of the new bylaw, Main Street was plowed 17 times and snow was removed 10 times. The size and shape of the new bulb-out sidewalk features in the downtown revitalization will require crews to clear and then remove the snow each visit.
