FAQ

The City has been clearing sidewalks in front of your house from ice and snow only when the City declared a Snow Event. A Snow Event is declared by the City when a significant snowfall is forecasted. Sign up here to receive notices about Snow Events.

A Snow Event is declared by the City when credible weather forecasts predict a significant snowfall (8cm or more). Sign up here to receive notices about Snow Events.

You can sign up here to receive notices about Snow Events. Snow Events are also announced on the City of Kitchener’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as at kitchener.ca/StormUpdates.

This pilot is about understanding the costs, logistics and implications of City-led sidewalk clearing. As a result, the pilot area was selected as a representative example of sidewalks across Kitchener. The area includes a variety of sidewalk types, trail connections and other elements that will provide insight on maintenance in a variety of conditions.

The purpose of this pilot program is to evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, resources and cost implications of providing sidewalk clearing services after Snow Events on sidewalks across the city within 24 hours. Data has been collected and analyzed and the results will be presented to Council in June 2020 to determine the future of this pilot program.

No. The Snow Event Sidewalk Clearing project is a pilot being conducted over the 2019/20 winter season. Data has been collected and analyzed and the results will be presented to Council in June 2020 to determine the future of this program.

To report a property damage or to file a complaint, please contact the City of Kitchener Corporate Contact Centre at 519-741-2345 or TTY: 1-866-969-9994 or email us at info@kitchener.ca.

The cost of this service is calculated based on the cost of hiring contractors, staff and equipment to clear sidewalks across the city from ice and snow when the City declares a Snow Event.

The cost of implementing this service would be equal to approximately a 7.1 percent increase in the City's portion of the property tax bill. This is about an extra $80 per year on the average ($330,000 MPAC assessed value) tax bill. Please note that this would be in addition to any other impacts in any given year such as base municipal tax increases and Regional or School Board increases. This would also be in addition to any utility related tax increase including water, sanitary, storm and natural gas. Staff are proposing that this increase be phased in over two years.

This survey will remain open until April 20, 2020. We would appreciate if you could complete the survey by end of this date.

Your feedback on the program will be a key component of the findings presented to council, and will significantly impact any decisions about whether this service makes sense in our community.

For a PDF version, or to request a paper survey, please email wintersidewalk@kitchener.ca or call 519-741-2345.