dave_j

And...
Best not to buy a corner lot... Stupid daughter bought one and even more stupid me bought it from her...
Result... I have to clear twice as much as the average...

BristolUK

Yes that's possible. There are a number of corner lots around here where drive and path/steps are all in the same bit so it makes no difference - unless a by-law requires you to clear snow from the sidewalk in front and at the side

There's also a house in my street where snow/ice slides off the roof over the front door so in winter they close off the steps and use the side door only. So with a corner lot something similar might be possible and not be so bad. A little inconvenience might be a small price for avoiding a heart attack.

Siouxie

Where I live the Ciity bylaw dictates that you must clear the snow within 24 hours on all boundaries of the property - i.e. for a corner lot, both the front and side sidewalks. When we had our mail delivered to the house (before the introduction of community mailboxes) we also had to clear a path from the sidewalk to the front door.

One of my stipulations on looking at properties to buy were 1) Brick built 2) No corner lots 3) No main roads.

On side roads you can get away with taking your time clearing the snow in the hope it might melt - on the major / main roads where there is also foot traffic, you need to clear it quickly.

If you don't clear it within the designated time limits, the City send in people to do it - and then bill you for it.

scrubbedexpat091

Luckily it doesn't snow much around these parts, so its not too many days where people have to shovel, and good chance it will rain and melt it away anyhow, but the city says snow must be cleared by 10am each day if it does snow. The city doesn't have to abide by the same rule for streets though, they can plow at their leisure.

Upside to living in a condo building, its not my problem, the strata has to deal with the snow removal, its a bit hit and miss where the snow is shoveled, the residential strata does their little bit pretty quickly, the rest is commercial and sometimes the companies clear and sometimes they don't so the little part of the sidewalk in front of the residential doors is cleared the rest of the block not so much and there is a bus stop on the block so not sure is responsible for that part, basically little of the sidewalk in front of the building is cleared.

When I worked at a high rise downtown as a night auditor, I had to clear almost a city block of sidewalk on my shift, then salt it, it was not fun.

BristolUK

Perhaps add another - no double lots. Ours is a double and depending on property size, that long stretch of sidewalk could be as much as that on a corner lot.
I doubt it would ever get passed here. For one thing there's that much more snow. I used to think that Vancouver aside it was all much the same in the cities but we seem to get double that of a lot of places in Ontario. I had a phase of looking enviously at you lot over there but since I've been having our driveway plowed, it really makes little difference to me now how much fell. Under current laws, that is.

On a practical point making everyone responsible for the snow on their own bit of sidewalk here wouldn't be feasible. You couldn't do it from shovelling, it would need either a snowblower for every house or different contractors. If it could be organised so as to be the same contractors for the length of the street, well that could be the city doing it as they do here. And with the amount of snow here, there would be times that it would interfere with the street clearance.

Apartment buildings aside the city does garbage collection for everyone, it's not everyone responsible for their own garbage collection. I don't really see snow clearing any different. But I guess it's what everyone is used to that seems normal to them.

That's pretty much what we already have. The city has sidewalk tractor blowers/gritters. The busier streets - foot traffic - have both sides done and other streets have one side done, so each street is accessible. As a walker it's useful to know it's done and not dependent on an individual.

The snow budget is part of the tax system so it's all shared out. Of course it makes the public transport system feasible too as you know you can use the bus stops. Benefits all round and everyone pays an even share.

MillieF

BristolUK

And the kids may not necessarily be a help when 'helping' what with arguing, "don't do it like that"; one complaining, and therefore not shovelling, about the other taking a rest and then the other way around; me having half the job done before the other even appears etc

dave_j

I find there's nothing more annoying than kids arguing because their minds work on a level that simply doesn't allow any understanding at all.
I find myself getting more upset shouting at them to stop than they were originally.
They remind me of politicians and how they behave.

caretaker

So Buddy says "How's your wife and my kids?" and I says "The wife's fine, but the kids are a pack of e-jits."