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Show Private contractors to pow wow with city on snow removal rules by Christopher Smart Park City and private snow removal contractors are attempting to hash out a compromise after a newly-proposed newly-proposed snow removal ordinance or-dinance drew criticism at a Dec. 15 public hearing. The new ordinance is designed to keep snow removal re-moval contractors from clearing snow from private property onto public rights-of-way, according to City Manager Arlene Loble. Loble stated at the hearing that snow cleared from privately-owned grounds must be placed back on the private property or hauled away. The Park City Fire District Dis-trict was involved in the preparation of the new ordinance, Loble said. The Fire District is becoming increasingly concerned about emergency access, she said. Additionally, the clearing of fire hydrants located on private property will be the responsibility of the property owner, according accord-ing to the new ordinance. But as snow continues to fall, both private contractors and city employees are having an increasingly difficult diffi-cult time finding places to put it. One private snow removal contractor, Karen Taft, asked the city, in light of the new restrictions, to provide dumping areas for excess snow. "This is a community problem," she said. "Having no place to put snow is like not having garbage trucks." Councilwoman Helen Alvarez Al-varez didn't agree with Taft's assessment. She added, add-ed, however, that it may be possible for the city to designate specific snow storage stor-age sites. The record snowfall isn't the only thing raising havoc with the logistics of snow removal and storage. Ano ther independent snow contractor, con-tractor, Jim Patterson, told the City Council that the city plows are making matters even worse. Patterson maintains that he has difficulty moving snow from public right-of-way because the city doesn't push the snow back off the roads far enough. Beyond that, Patterson said, the city plows and loaders have been piling snow too high in many places. Not only do the excessively high berms go against existing regulations, but they hinder smaller equipment from piling snow back onto private property, he said. The new ordinance would cause higher costs for property prop-erty owners, Patterson said. He argued that he wasn't sure a new ordinance was really necessary. Responding to Patterson's statement, Councilman Bill Coleman said that the city was spending a lot of money on snow removal, which, in some cases, was the responsibility respon-sibility of private contractors. contrac-tors. "There is no teeth in the current ordinance," he .said.,-. - it According to Public Works Director Jerry Gibbs, the city had already spent $28,000 on snow removal by Dec. 10. The entire snow removal budget for this winter is $100,000, he said. But he added that the snow removal budget will be reviewed in January. In response to a suggestion from the council which came out of the public hearing, Gibbs has scheduled a meeting meet-ing with private snow contractors con-tractors for the first week in January. The council will not act on the proposed snow removal ordinance until the suggestions of the contractors contrac-tors have been considered, Gibbs said. |
