Winkler's snow clearing parking ban enacted for the first time

This week's early snowstorm has Winkler enacting its snow-clearing parking ban for the first time since council updated its traffic and parking by-law earlier this year. From October 1st through Apirl 30th parking restrictions may be implemented to efficiently complete snow clearing, with street parking prohibited when the ban is in place.

24-hours' notice was given to residents late Wednesday afternoon that the ban would take effect for the first time at 3:15 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

"As our community continues to grow, we're finding, at times, it's a little bit tougher to do," explained Mayor Henry Siemens regarding cleaning up city streets after a significant snowfall event. "We have 130 kilometers of streets to clear after a snowfall. We have 60 kilometers of sidewalks to clear. We have 59 cul de sacs to clear, and usually it works quite well. Unfortunately, at times, we run into vehicles on the street that impede that, and then we have to work our way around it, and then come back afterwards to clean it up."

With that in mind, Council ultimately made the decision to implement a snow parking ban, but also recognized not every parking lot and driveway has enough room for every vehicle.

"So, what we will do is 24 hours before an anticipated snowfall event, a snowfall event would be 5 to 7 centimeters of snow or more, we will issue notice," noted Siemens regarding when residents will be made aware of the parking ban coming into effect. The notice will be issued through the city's website, it's social media channels and also its app.

"This parking ban, while in effect October 1st till April 30th, is literally only in affect when we anticipate a snowfall event," stressed the Mayor. "So, when there are no snowfall events, when it's clear and you haven't received a notice, it's okay to park on the street just as you would throughout the course of the year."

"In the event that someone forgets this first time through, we won't be towing any vehicles this first time," added Siemens. "Our by law enforcement officer will go out and will issue tickets. It'll be an $80 ticket, and if you pay it within the first 14 days, you get that discounted to $40."

He noted, the next snowfall event the city receives which requires the snow clearing parking ban to put into place, tow trucks will be going in front of the city's snow clearing equipment and towing offending vehicles.

"But our hope, and our expectation, is the city will partner with us to remove vehicles, get them out of the way, so we can quickly clear the streets, and we can get back to parking the way we like to park."

Earlier this week, CFAM Radio 950 Morning Show Co-Host Chris Sumner spoke with Henry Siemens for the latest edition of In the Mayor's Chair, with the focus being the snow clearing parking ban. You can listen to that conversation, below.

In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, PembinaValleyOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the PembinaValleyOnline app.