Owen Sound Gears Up with 24/7 Winter Control 

Owen Sound’s Public Works Division began seasonal Winter Control Operations earlier this week. Winter Control is based on a 24-hour-per-day, 7-day-per-week schedule throughout the winter months. This is to ensure municipal roads, sidewalks, walkways, and parking lots remain safe for motorists and pedestrians in accordance with the Ontario Minimum Maintenance Standards. 

Residents and visitors are reminded of the following Winter Season guidelines:

Overnight Parking

• Overnight parking restrictions will come into effect on Sunday, December 1, 2024.
• Parking is prohibited on all City streets and non-designated municipal lots between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. from December 1 until March 31 each year to allow for snow removal.
• Overnight parking passes can be purchased at City Hall or at the Transit Terminal. These passes are valid in the designated overnight parking areas of Municipal Lot 5 (800 block of 3rd Avenue East) and Municipal Lot 9 (700 block of 1st Avenue East).

Driveways

•     Under the City’s Snow and Ice Removal Bylaw 2008-046, it is an offence to deposit ice and snow on the roadway, sidewalk, or across the road.

Children Playing

• Roadside snowbanks should be considered unstable. Teach children not to climb, play, or build snow forts or tunnels on or in the roadside or cul-de-sac snowbanks.  They could fall into oncoming traffic and tunnels or piles could collapse without warning.

Garbage and Recycling

• Place all materials for collection at the end of your driveway, not on the road or on top of any snowbanks.
• Careful placement of your waste and recycling containers will prevent:
  • Waste blocking traffic
  • Snowplows properly clearing the roadway and sidewalk
  • Hazards, as waste and containers could get struck by vehicles or snowplows; and
  • Waste scattered or buried by snow cast off the plow blade.

Please visit the City of Owen Sound’s website for more detailed information relating to Winter Maintenance at OwenSound.ca/WinterControl.

For more information, please contact Jeff Follis at 519-376-4274 ext. 3225 or email at jfollis@owensound.ca

Quick Facts:

• The City maintains 282 lane kilometres of roadways and 105 kilometres of sidewalks during the winter
• Owen Sound is noted as one of the top 10 municipalities in Ontario for annual snowfall receiving, on average, 330 centimetres per year
• For the most complete information on Winter Maintenance and Snow Clearing in Owen Sound, click this link “Know Our Plan For Snow”

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