Vancouver ByLaw 2849 – Removal of Snow or Ice From Sidewalk
With the recent snow that we’ve received here in Vancouver there has been a lot of debate on what the bylaw states are proper snow and ice removal from our fair sidewalks. I have looking through the bylaw as best I could (disclaimer: I am not a lawyer) and have found the section of bylaw that coincides with this matter. Hopefully this will help people understand what is required by law of the properties around the City of Vancouver.
Vancouver ByLaw 2849 – Street And Traffic Bylaw
Subsection 76:
The Owner or occupier of any parcel of real property shall, not later than 10:00
a.m. of any day except Sunday, remove snow and ice from any sidewalk adjacent
to such parcel for a distance that coincides with the parcel’s property line, except
that this provision shall not apply to real property occupied only by a one or two-
family dwelling.76A. Notwithstanding section 76, the owner or occupier of any parcel of real property
in that area of the City bounded on the north by Burrard Inlet, on the east by Main
Street, on the south by Terminal Avenue, False Creek and English Bay and on the
west by Stanley Park shall, not later than 10:00 a.m. on any day except Sunday,
remove snow and ice from any sidewalk adjacent to such parcel for a distance
that coincides with the parcel’s property line.76B. If an owner or occupier of any parcel of real property fails to remove snow and
ice, as required by either section 76 or 76A, the City Engineer may authorize the
removal by another person and the costs of such removal shall be at the expense
of the owner or occupier as the case may be.
So if I had the proper understanding, as long as the owner or occupier of a property has shoveled their sidewalk by 10AM of that day they are in the clear. They also don’t have to do it one Sundays. Though most landlords and property managers I’ve seen do a pretty decent job of their sidewalks. I just wish more of the retailers around the WestEnd did a better job of salting their sidewalks. If I slip on the ice outside of a store front and break my leg or something, do I have legal action against that store? Who knows but I do hate having to walk up inclines on icy sidewalks.
The other municipalities probably have similar bylaws too, or I would think they would. What do you think of this bylaw for Vancouver?
Thanks for digging this up. Don’t know what susan anton was on about on cknw this am, but she made it seem as if there is no law.
So why are their no sidewalks? Time to take the guys out of the snowplows and start writing some tickets.
What I think is funny is that most years we don’t have to worry about snow, as it only sticks around for a few days. This is the first year in a while ( that I can remember ) where there has been snow on the ground for more than three or four days.
I wonder what winter will be like next year.
I think Rebecca (Miss604) wrote a post on this a little while back as well. As I commented on her post, I’m surprised to hear that the bylaw seems to only apply to the Downtown peninsula for residential areas. I live in East Vancouver and I’ve always been told that every house/building is responsible for clearing the sidewalk in front of said house/building, including single and two-family dwellings. I’ll continue to clear the sidewalk in front of my home, out of courtesy for my neighbours, and I expect them to do the same, bylaw or not.
It’s a bylaw out here in the suburbs (okay, Maple Ridge) as far as I know. Must be cleared by 10:00am. Of course, they have to give a little leeway, too. If you shovel it down to the concrete at 7am and then go to work, and it dumps another 5cm of snow on the ground, they certainly couldn’t go after you for that, I’d hope.
Beautifully unintelligible bylaw. First part sets the basic requirement. Second part over-rides that for a significant number of people without making clear that that’s what it’s doing.
I’ve heard frequent announcements, on News 1130 I think, which sum it up better: if you live in downtown core then EVERYONE has to clear their driveway. Vancouver but outside downtown: only multi-family dwellings have to. And nobody HAS to have cleared anything before 10am Mon-Sat.
Simple enough to clear the snow – although a literal pain after you’ve done it a dozen times. But what about the ice? How are you expected to clear that? ARE you expected to clear it? It’s not much help to pedestrians if you don’t but virtually impossible to do.
Here in Delta the policy seems to be “Snow removal from sidewalks is the responsibility of adjacent property owners” and “Homeowners are asked to clear snow from sidewalks abutting their property” with no more specific detail than that.
It’s all gone haywire down our residential road. There’s one set of icy ruts down the middle of the road & no sidewalk. Pedestrians have to get out of the way when they see you coming and if you meet another car you have serious problems! Looks like Derek has it worse than us though – http://www.penmachine.com/
Never mind the bylaw. When it’s snowing you should be doing it as many times a day as is necessary or reasonable in order to keep them as clear as possible. For most that should be morning and night. Unless you want to do a giant job each morning. More often is probably quicker in the long run.
Thanks for all the comments
Our landlord is always out there shoveling the sidewalks and walkways of our apartment building. I’ve seen him do it about three times a day actually. He likes to say that where he is from this is no where the same amount of snow they get lol.
Only thing I have to deal with is trying to shovel out parking spots. I hope other people in the neighbourhood are grateful for the parking spots in the alley I’ve had to dig our car out of
Thanks for posting the bylaw Tyler! I have a hankering now to print it and post it on the front doors of a bunch of (non single or double family) residences on the West side.
Wow. I’m bringing this up to our landlord. They are really lazy.