Snow Clearing By-Law — full text

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TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW Revised March 2026 TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW CAME INTO EFFECT: The Town of Torbay Snow Clearing By-law came into effect and were adopted by Motion of Council this _14_____ day of __April____ 2025. Motion No.: ___RES-92-2025_____________ ________________________ ________________________ Craig Scott Kim Osmond Mayor Town Clerk TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW Original Adoption to align with new Towns and Local Service Districts Act, 2023 March 31, 2025 - Motion # RES-92-2025 Rev 0 March 2026 - Motion # RES-XX-2026 Rev 1 TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW Pursuant to the authority conferred in section 8 of the Towns and Local Service Districts Act, 2023, the Town Council of The Town of Torbay has adopted the following by-law on March 31, 2025. 1.0 TITLE This document will be known and cited as Snow Clearing By-Law. 2.0 DEFINITIONS a) "Act" shall mean the Highway Traffic Act, RSNL 1990 c H-3, as amended. b) "Council" shall mean the Town Council of the Town of Torbay. c) "Highway" shall mean a highway as defined in the Act which falls within the municipal boundaries of the Town, and includes without limitation, any street, way or traffic access route which is serviced by the Town's snow clearing equipment. d) "Towns and Local Service Districts Act" shall mean the Towns and Local Service Districts Act. e) "By-law" shall mean the Town of Torbay Snow Clearing By-law. f) "Road/Street Reservation" shall mean the entire width between the boundary lines of a street/highway, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic. This includes sidewalks, ditches or other structures located within the boundary. All future streets or future street improvements and shall be a width of 15m for urban local road classifications and 20.6-23.6m for rural local road classifications, as defined in the Town of Torbay Engineering Design Guidelines. g) "Town" shall mean the Town of Torbay. h) "Violation Notice" shall mean a notice issued pursuant to section 287 of the Towns and Local Service Districts Act. TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW 3.0 SNOW CLEARING SEASON 3.1 The period commencing at 12:01 AM on the first day of December and ending at 11:59 PM on the last day of March in the succeeding year shall be known as the "Snow Clearing Season". 3.2 Council may, in its absolute discretion, extend the Snow Clearing Season as a result of forecasted weather conditions by providing reasonable public notice in advance of the date on which the extension will commence. 4.0 PARKING 4.1 No person shall park an unattended vehicle on any Highway within the Town: (a) during the hours of 01:00 AM and 7:00 AM during the Snow Clearing Season; (b) at any time during a period of excessive snowfall (which shall be characterized as an accumulation of 5 centimeters or more of snow and/or ice on a Highway surface). (c) during the 24-hour period following a snowfall in which 10 centimeters or more of snow and/or ice has accumulated as measured by Environment Canada at the weather station situated nearest to the Town or following a snowfall event that may be reasonably characterized as a snowstorm; or (d) during such other periods as may be declared by the Council from time to time to enable snow and/or ice cleanup and removal. 4.2 Council, its servants, employees, agents or assigns, may cause any motor vehicle which is parked in contravention of section 4.1 to be ticketed and/or towed and impounded at the expense of the owner. 5.0 DEPOSITING OF SNOW AND ICE During the Snow Clearing Season, no person shall deposit or cause to be deposited any snow and/or ice from driveways, sidewalks, parking lots or any other property, under their ownership or control, onto any street or road reservation within the Town, as per section 163 of the Highway Traffic Act. 6.0 DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES The Town shall not be responsible for any damage to property where: (a) the damages occurred on or to property located inside the Road Reservation; (b) the damages occurred as a result of the weight of snow and/or ice deposited onto TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW mobile or portable articles, garbage boxes, buildings, fences. trees, shrubs, hedges rock walls and lawns; (c) the damages occurred to trees outside of the Road Reservation which were not properly marked by a brightly painted pole or flag extending above the snow line; or (d) the claim for damages is received by the Town more than fourteen (14) days after the damage is alleged to have occurred. 7.0 CLAIMS AGAINST THE TOWN 7.1 Claims against the Town for damage to property as a result of the Town's snow clearing operations must be made in writing via email or in handwriting to the Infrastructure and Public Works Department by April 30th, of the same year as the snow clearing period. Claims made after this date will not be considered. The Town will review all claims by May 30th. 7.2 When making a claim for damages, the following information should be included: (a) date and time that the alleged damage occurred; (b) type of equipment that caused the damage; (c) the approximate value of the alleged damage; and (d) photographs of the damaged property (and the pre-damaged condition, if available). 8.0 SNOW-CLEARING OPERATIONS 8.1 Snow-clearing operations in the Town will be completed on a priority basis and will generally proceed in the following order of priority: (a) school bus routes and hills; (b) collector roads and main arteries; (c) local roads, non-thoroughfares, side roads and cul-de-sacs. 8.2 Snow-clearing operations will begin when 5 centimeters of snow has accumulated on the Highway surface and will continue thereafter as conditions require in the opinion of the Senior Staff Member responsible for Public Works for the Town. 8.3 During a period of excessive snowfall, priority will be given to keeping collector roads and main arteries open and assisting emergency vehicles as required. TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW 8.4 Except in the case of emergency situations or severe weather events, the Town shall make efforts to meet the following snow-clearing operational timelines once snowfall accumulation has ended: (a) within six to eight hours, clear all Highways within the Town; (b) on the next regular business day, commence widening Highways within the Town; (c) commence clearing fire hydrants; (d) and clear sidewalks. 9.0 ICE-CONTROL OPERATIONS 9.1 Ice-control operations ln the Town will be completed on a priority basis and will generally proceed in the following order of priority: 9.1.1 School bus routes and hills; 9.1.2 Collector roads and main arteries; 9.1.3 Local roads, non-thoroughfares, side roads and cul-de-sacs. 9.2 Ice-control operations will begin when Highway surfaces become slippery as a result of weather and temperature conditions, and will continue thereafter as conditions require, in the opinion of the Senior Staff Member responsible for Public Works for the Town. 9.3 During a period of ice accumulation on Highways, priority will be given to keeping collector roads and main arteries open and assisting emergency vehicles as required. 9.4 Except in the case of emergency situations or severe weather events, the Town shall make efforts to complete ice control operations on all Highways within five to six hours following the ice accumulation event. 10.0 ENFORCEMENT 10.1 This by-law may be enforced by a Municipal Enforcement Officer, By-law Enforcement Officer (appointed pursuant to section 278 of the Towns and Local Service Districts Act), a member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a peace officer, or any other person appointed by Council to enforce this by-law (any of which shall be known as an "Enforcement Officer"). TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW 10.2 It shall be the duty of an Enforcement Officer: 10.2.1 To report the name and address of any person observed or reliably reported to have violated any of the provisions of this by-law. 10.2.2 To report the time and nature of the violation of this by-law, and any circumstances being relevant to the violation; 10.2.3 To serve upon the person violating any provision of this by-law a traffic ticket under the Town of Torbay Traffic Regulations, Section 6 (Snow clearing) that the person concerned has violated a provision of the by-law and instructing such person to carry out any order in respect to such violation within a stated period of time; and 10.2.4 To furnish the Chief Administrative Officer or the Director of Infrastructure and Public Works for the Town with a duplicate of each Violation Notice. 11.0 PENALTIES 11.1 The owner of a motor vehicle which is towed and impounded pursuant to this by- law shall be liable for all costs associated with towing and impounding, which costs shall be recoverable by the Town as a civil debt. Neither Council, nor its employees. servants, agents, or assigns are responsible for damages caused to any motor vehicle as a result of the enforcement of this by-law. 11.2 Every person who acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any provision of this by-law, or neglects or refuses to do so, shall be liable to the penalties stipulated in Schedule "A". 11.3 The conviction of a person under this by-law does not operate as a bar to further prosecution for the continued failure on the part of a person to comply with this by- law. 12.0 GENERAL 12.1 A determination of invalidity or unconstitutionality by a court of competent jurisdiction of any provision of this by-law shall not affect the validity of the remaining parts of this by-law. 12.2 Schedule "A" annexed hereto shall form part of this by-law. 12.3 All previous Town of Torbay snow clearing regulations and amendments are repealed. TOWN OF TORBAY SNOW CLEARING BY-LAW SCHEDULE 'A' SCHEDULE OF FINES AND PENALTIES Offence Fine Amount Parking so as to obstruct snow clearing $50.00 Parking on a highway or municipal parking area between 1:00 am and 7:00 am $50.00 Depositing snow on a street or road reservation $50.00