As students returned from spring break or emerged from their weeklong hibernation, Laramie received 10 inches of extremely wet and heavy snow causing power outages and mobility issues throughout the valley.
Some recent issues about changes to the sidewalk snow removal ordinance ranged from residents uninformed about their responsibilities as defined by lease agreements, to residents who remove snow without pause after every storm.
“This was our big trial run since the modified sidewalk snow removal ordinances went into effect a little while ago,” City of Laramie Code Enforcement Inspector Brian Forster said. “It seemed like there were fewer enforcement situations than we normally have, but we did have to do two snow removals, but overall people called to get information about the ordinance or looking for resources that could help them clear snow.”
The City of Laramie maintains that clean, snow and ice free, sidewalks are a public safety issue and also important for emergency responder safety.
Last week, the City of Laramie Road and Street Department plowed the water-laden snow from the main driving lanes into two to three-foot piles that changed to solid berms of ice and snow in the bike and parking lanes of the streets around Laramie.
Sometimes it appears the correlation between the concerns for public safety and clearing hazardous obstacles ends at the curb, but these decisions about snow removal are ultimately up to the Laramie City Council and administrative bodies.
“Our policy is to generally keep one lane of travel open in either direction of the main arteries,” City of Laramie Streets Division Manager Shane Johnson said. “It’s tough because we get a lot of unhappy calls about people being stuck around town, but a great deal of the budget goes to keeping the central business district functioning and we, as drivers and operators, have no choice about how those resources are allocated.”
Despite seeing the difficulty Laramie residents were having either accessing or leaving parking spots encased in ice boulders around campus and residential streets, no relief for immobility came, except the thaw. Plow drivers are required to follow plowing outlined through procedural guidelines. No one’s street, even those that plow drivers live on, receives preferential treatment when it comes to plowing. Bottom line, it comes down to lack of funds.
“I think the biggest problem is the disconnect between people seeing massive snowfall and then not making preventative plans to avoid the problems that may arise,” UW graduate Jaimie Brown said. “I understand being in a hurry when getting to class or work but you should’ve planned on [crummy] roads and snow piled up everywhere, so don’t park in or leave your two-wheel-drive car in a place that is either going to be or already is full of snow.”
The City of Laramie’s ordinances also denote that emergency responders have the discretion to request additional snow removal assistance at specific locations when needed.
“We were lucky this last time around and didn’t get any calls for additional help to clear snow for emergency responders,” Johnson said.
According to the city’s website and street snow removal ordinance, “12.08.030 requires that citizens remove vehicles, trailers, etc. from the street when it becomes apparent that snow removal operations may isolate, cover, or otherwise restrict the movement of the parked vehicles, etc.”
Laramie’s Central Business District operates under entirely different street snow removal directives than most residential and outlying areas. Here, the snow is removed from the sides, pushed to the center and removed.
The logistics and rationale behind Laramie’s battle with snow removal can’t help but be affected by budgetary issues, as most Wyoming communities are. This does little to change the optics of a city willing to write and enforce ordinances requiring its residents to go the extra mile for public safety and emergency response safety.
