Hidden Valley Park trail now plowed in winter

Back in Feb 2008, I blogged about the lack of plowing the trail around Hidden Valley Pond in winter, and how other adjacent trails are sometimes plowed.

The issue of plowing paved trails throughout the city came before the City Council last winter and on Feb. 11, 2014, the council approved this motion:

The Northfield City Council hereby approves a motion to remove snow from all City trails, as described in Option Three.

Here’s an excerpt from a PDF memo to the Council by then City Engineer Joe Stapf that describes Option 3:

Option #3 – Simply plow the Outbounds using the personnel and equipment we already have, except everyone needs to understand it will take longer to finish the Outbounds, and the streets will remain the highest priority in snow removal. Currently we plow BOTH streets and the established Outbound routes simultaneously; once the drivers of the snowplows are done with their routes, under this third option they would use whatever equipment remains and some would start on the additional Outbounds. This third alternative is the simplest to implement. However, the level of service may not be up to everyone’s expectations in that some trail segments may not be cleared until the day after or even the second day after the snowfall.

Here are two photos of the plowed Hidden Valley Park trail from November 20, a couple days after a snowfall:

Hidden Valley Park plowed trail - 1 Hidden Valley Park plowed trail - 2

 

Snowplowing for our driveways

Valley Pond Assoc. driveway plowingI’ve been really pleased with the snowplowing service for our townhouse association thus far this year.  Not only is the plowing done promptly in the early morning (usually before 6 am). But they return to plow again after the city streets have been plowed and the edge of the driveways are filled with the heavy stuff from the streets.

A nice plus over Xmas: we had kids visiting us for a few days and had two cars parked in the driveway, thereby preventing it from being plowed.  After they departed, the service returned to plow our driveway, just in time before the slushy stuff turned rock hard with the cold snap.