AURORA | Aurora residents tired of being snowed into their neighborhoods during winter weather may soon be able to look to their HOAs and metropolitan districts for help under a new framework approved by Aurora’s City Council.
When snow falls, the city focuses on plowing higher-traffic streets to create a path for emergency vehicles. It means streets within residential neighborhoods often go unplowed.
A proposed change in city policy would allow some plows not hired by the city to work public Aurora streets, after specific conditions are met.
Lynne Center, the Public Works Department’s deputy director of operations, told the council Sept. 18 that the city would prioritize neighborhood streets only during “extreme” snow events.
“There’s only been one time in my history with the city where we’ve deployed contract services to plow residential streets during a snowstorm, and that was the (2006-07) blizzard that dumped three feet of snow on the city,” she said.
The city reportedly spent $1.31 million on snow removal during the most recent snow season.
Center said that, after a bomb cyclone hit the metro area in March 2019, the city started looking into letting HOAs and special districts, including metro districts and business improvement districts, plow neighborhood streets. The first pilot program with the Blackstone Metropolitan District in southeast Aurora was approved in January 2021.
Councilmember Francoise Bergan, who sponsored the item, said HOAs and special districts that choose to participate will be expected to have insurance as well as meet certain operation and maintenance requirements, and submit information about what equipment and materials are being used to keep roads clear of snow.
“This came up a lot during some of the recent snowstorms, where we were not able to plow residential roads,” Bergan said.
A sample intergovernmental agreement shared with the council also requires districts and HOAs to agree to plow roads “in a similar manner as performed by the City upon other public roads, exercising all reasonable and due care, and in good and workman-like manner.”
No council members objected to the item moving forward from the Sept. 18 study session, and the proposal was passed unanimously as part of the council’s consent calendar Monday.
Center said snow plowing agreements under the new framework would be fast-tracked through the council approval process, requiring only one vote to finalize, and that new agreements could come before the council as soon as November.