County leaders are urging local residents to connect with neighbors and help one another if February and March bring more snow.
“This is an opportunity for people to renew their relationships with their neighbors and say, ‘Let’s team up and help,'” County Manager Mark Schwartz said during a Tuesday (Jan. 28) County Board snow briefing.
It was the first time staff had a chance to fully brief elected officials and the public after the Jan. 6-7 snowstorm that dumped 7.2″ at Reagan National Airport.
That’s where the region’s official count is taken, although based on its geography snow totals sometimes are lower there than other parts of the region.
County leaders gave themselves generally good grades for clearing roads, trails and sidewalks that were under their authority.
“We were ready,” Board member Matt de Ferranti said.
Not all went well, however, he acknowledged.
“We are trying to meet a new, higher standard,” de Ferranti said. “As a community, our expectations have lifted.”
Efforts were hampered by a long stretch of below-freezing weather that followed the snow dump, which turned snowpacks to ice and challenged crews working in the challenging conditions.
County staff said a number of areas where improvement was possible would be expanding technology to get a clearer picture of what areas needed more snow-clearning help, and revisiting the priority list that determines what areas get immediate or more intense intervention.
County officials say their snow-operation oversight includes 1,059 lane-miles of roads; 35 miles of sidewalks (compared to 700 miles on private property); 10 miles of trails; 7.5 miles of bike lanes; 350 bus shelters/stops; and 21 bridges and overpasses.
“This was a huge mobilization,” Board Chairman Takis Karantonis said.
As always, county officials fielded large numbers of complaints about snow not being cleared on private sidewalks. Since 2010, a county ordinance has required clearing passageways, with the timing dependent on the amount of snow.
Board member Susan Cunningham expressed concern about the plight of those with physical disabilities, unable to navigate sidewalks that were covered with snow that later compacted into ice.
“Those are [the concerns] we heard most acutely,” she said. “If that is your only means of transportation, we have to have a pathway.”
Six code-enforcement staff members spent days after the storm visiting sites where complaints had been received, leaving warning notices where necessary.
Most of those receiving warnings complied within the 24-hour window provided, staff said. No citations — which can result in fines of $50 to $100 — were issued.
That’s not unusual. One county official said he believed only one snow-related citation had been given out during his six years on the job.
Cunningham floated the idea of a “community corps” to help clear sidewalks and other areas when homeowners are unable to do it.
“You might even get some great new relationships out of it,” Cunningham said.
Though not specifically embracing that proposal, Schwartz said a better sense of community spirit would help.
“We need to look out for each other,” Schwartz said. “The snow ordinance … was trying to legislate good neighborliness.”
Heavy snows seem to be less prolific across the region in recent years, but February can still prove a heartbreaker for those longing for an early spring.
This winter marks the 15th anniversary of two whopper snowstorms on Feb 5-6 and Feb. 9-10, 2010, that dumped a total of 32″ of snow at Reagan National and significantly more in other parts of the region.
Those storms helped 2010 record the second highest February monthly snow total in the region, behind 1899.
February snowstorms that also dumped more than a foot of snow in the region included ones in 1936 (14.4″), 1958 (14.8″), 1979 (18.7″), 1983 (16.6″) and 2003 (16.4″).
Karantonis said climate trends seem to favor a future where major snowstorms become increasingly rare in the local region.
“Like nine out of 10 years, you won’t have a problem,” he said.
