Bring on the snow. The Town of Georgina is ready to tackle winter weather by managing snow and ice on the streets and sidewalks. The Town is responsible for 333 kilometres of roads, 140 kilometres of sidewalks and mutli-use paths and 25 municipal parking lots. A combination of Town-owned trucks and contracted services provide snowplowing services to Town roads and sidewalks through a priority and secondary route system.
Operations tracker and name the sidewalk snowplow
Wondering where the plows are? The Town has an operations tracker which allows residents to see where the snowplows are during snow clearing operations. This year, the Town is inviting residents to name the six sidewalk plows. Residents are encouraged to send fun name ideas to communications@georgina.ca and the chosen names will show up on the operations tracker.
Winter Control Guide
The Winter Control Guide outlines everything the Town does for winter maintenance from plowing and salting roads to clearing sidewalks and monitoring the weather. It can be found at georgina.ca/snow.
Service levels
The Town has developed carefully planned service levels for winter road maintenance. Primary roads within the routes were determined by emergency vehicle routes and fire stations, traffic volumes, transit routes, steep hills, common gathering locations, connectivity of road network, and knowledge of difficult maintenance areas. Once these priority roads have been cleared, secondary road segments within each route will follow.
Significant Weather Event
During a significant winter storm, the Town may declare a Significant Weather Event. This means the forecast winter weather, including snow and freezing rain, is expected to pose a significant danger to users of the roads and highways within a municipality, and may exceed the Town’s ability to meet the minimum provincial maintenance standards. The declaration of a Significant Weather Event for the Town will usually come at the same time as declarations made by the Regional Municipality of York or the Province of Ontario.
Winter maintenance event
Prior to a major snowfall event, the Town may declare a Winter Maintenance Event that will require all parked vehicles be removed from Town roads to allow maintenance vehicles to complete the snow-removal operations. The three-hour on-street parking allowance is removed for the duration of the Winter Maintenance Event and no on-street parking is allowed with the exception of the streets where alternate-side parking is permitted.
No on-street parking
As per the Traffic and Parking By-law, parking is not permitted on most streets from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m., Nov. 15 through April 15, whether there is snow on the ground or not. This helps the Town clear streets of snow overnight with the least impact to residents and businesses. Residents are required to keep parked vehicles off Town roads for at least 24 hours in the event of a Winter Maintenance Event.
Keep roads clear
Don’t throw snow or ice on the road when clearing your driveway or sidewalk – it’s against the law, contributes to unsafe driving and walking conditions, and increases the cost of providing winter road maintenance.
Waste and recycling
To make waste and recycling pick up easy and efficient, residents are reminded to place items at the end of the driveway/curb so they are visible. Do not place bins or garbage on top of or behind snowbanks. If possible, when looking at your residence from the road, place to the left of the driveway.
Keep fire hydrants clear
If you have a fire hydrant by your house, remember to clear the snow around it for about three feet and clear a path from the hydrant to the street. In the case of a fire every second counts. Thank you for helping Georgina Fire and Rescue Services keep you safe.
Regional roads
York Region plows the major roads in Georgina such as Woodbine Avenue, Metro Road, Dalton Road, Ravenshoe Road, Baseline Road and Pefferlaw Road. An interactive map that highlights all regional roads in Georgina and York Region can be found at york.ca/roads.
When driving in winter conditions, remember to allow for extra time and space on the roads. The Town encourages everyone to drive safely.
For more information on winter maintenance and snowplowing in Georgina, visit georgina.ca/snow.