Paradise rejigs snow clearing policy
By Mark Squibb
A blustery winter season last year has forced the Town of Paradise to reconfigure its snow clearing policy.
The current policy, which establishes the Town’s priorities following snowstorms, was adopted in January 2017, and has undergone several revisions, the latest of which was approved this month.
“Following the 2026 winter season, council and staff completed a further review of the policy based on debriefs, public feedback, benchmarking, and discussions regarding service delivery during major snowfall events,” said councillor Glen Carew
Key changes include clearer definitions of ‘single cut’ and ‘street widening,’ and reducing the target timeline for completing one cut on all streets from 12 hours to 8 hours and for street widening from 24 hours to 12 hours following storms with recorded snowfalls of 30 cm or less. The policy also addresses communication requirements during extreme storms, trail grooming priorities, and revised sidewalk clearing priorities.
The requirement that all streets receive a cut before street widening and parking lot clearing will be maintained.
The changes are intended to provide a “more operational framework for winter maintenance while maintaining public safety and transparency,” Carew said.
“This one took a little while to get across the bow here,” he added. “There’s been a lot of work put into this by staff.”
Carew said he hopes the new policy, coupled with new snow clearing equipment, will help the Town better “manage snow events, both small and large,” and keep service levels “a little more inline with what residents would like to see.”
Councillor Erin Furlong said she expects residents will be very happy with the new policy and encouraged them to check it out on the Town’s website.
As trail grooming has been incorporated into the policy, council rescinded the old trail grooming policy.
“Operational experience has proved that trail grooming is highly dependent on weather conditions, equipment availability, staffing resources, and competing winter maintenance priorities,” said Carew. “As trail grooming is a recreational service rather than a core transportation function, staff have identified that it is more effectively done through operational procedures instead of a standalone policy framework.”