Matt's Blog Living by the lake of salt.

Daybreak Snow Removal

So today I received an email titled the "Daybreak Community Update". Well in actuality someone else received it and forwarded it on to me. It seems regardless of what I do to try and sign up for updates it never happens. Anyways, the following paragraph was in the email regarding snow removal:

Streets & Alleyways: South Jordan City is responsible for plowing ALL public streets and alleyways. This includes all condo alleyways and some townhome alleyways.

They also distributed this PDF regarding snow removal.

I live in the red townhomes facing Oquirrh Lake. This is surprising news to me, as it seems the only people who have ever cleared our rear alleyway have been employees of the landscaping company (their name escapes me, but they drive the red vehicles), and even then it is rarely happening. We've had to take to clearing our own alleyway far past 4" of snow accumulation and generally have to wait a long time to have our sidewalks cleared too. Generally when it's not cleared, it takes about 4-5 days of nice sunshine and 30°+ to melt it back down to cement, and even then the sheets of ice from tire tracks usually remains. I'm not often one to complain, but when I pay $2200 a year in HOA fees that are supposed to cover this sort of thing, I feel I have earned the right to complain.

In a recent posting, Daybreak Daily mentioned that the general lack of snow clearing occurring in Daybreak is a result of an ongoing lawsuit between Kennecott Land and South Jordan. South Jordan has made it official policy to no longer clear streets that are dead ends (or cul-de-sacs), which Daybreak has many of. Luckily our main street and alleyway are not dead ends, but I still wonder where the snow plows are. I believe that our alley is being cleaned by the landscaping company, for which I appreciate it, but I would rather my city tax dollars be used to clear city streets and save my landscaping dollars to get the remainder of the trees planted around Daybreak come springtime among other things.

I understand that the legal process exists for a reason, but while people debate who, when, and where snow removal is someone's responsibility, a large community who is already displeased with services rendered by the city and by the HOA is left wondering what they're paying for and what to do. The 58" of annual snowfall we receive makes for a long winter when we're paying and no one is clearing.