Fort McMurray's Snow Clearing Bylaw: What Commercial Property Owners Must Do

Most commercial property owners in Fort McMurray know they should clear their snow. Fewer know that the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo makes much of it a legal obligation — with deadlines, fines, and the municipality's right to do the work for you and bill it to your property taxes. Here's what the rules actually say, and what they mean for a commercial site.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice — always confirm the current requirements in the bylaw itself or with the RMWB.

The 48-hour sidewalk rule

Under the RMWB's Community Standards Bylaw 21/010, the owner or occupant of a property must clear snow, ice, dirt, and debris from the sidewalks adjacent to their property within 48 hours of it forming or being deposited. That applies to commercial properties just as it does to homes — if your building fronts onto a public sidewalk, that sidewalk is your responsibility after every snowfall.

Two things make this stricter than it sounds for a commercial site:

• The clock runs from every snowfall. In a Fort McMurray winter — snow falls regularly from October into April — that's a recurring deadline, not a one-time job.
• "Adjacent" can be a lot of frontage. A retail plaza or industrial property can have hundreds of metres of sidewalk along multiple street faces, all of it on the 48-hour clock.

What happens if you don't clear it

The bylaw gives the municipality real teeth:

• A fine of $250 for failing to clear a sidewalk within the 48-hour window.
• The municipality may arrange to have the sidewalk cleared itself and charge the costs to you — and if the bill goes unpaid, it can be added to the property's tax roll.

For a commercial owner, the bigger exposure usually isn't the fine — it's what an uncleared, icy sidewalk means in a slip-and-fall claim. A bylaw violation on record makes a negligence argument much easier for a claimant.

Where the snow can't go

Bylaw 21/010 also prohibits depositing snow, ice, or debris onto any sidewalk, highway, public place, or private property that isn't your own. In practice, that means:

• You can't push snow from your lot onto the road or across the street.
• You can't blade a windrow onto a neighbouring property.
• On-site snow storage has to work with your lot — and when the piles outgrow the space, the snow needs to be hauled away, not shoved somewhere it doesn't belong.

This is where many commercial lots get caught by mid-winter: the storage corners fill up by January, and suddenly every additional snowfall has nowhere legal to go.

Buildings, roofs, and awnings

The bylaw framework also addresses snow and ice on structures near public spaces: accumulated snow and ice on roofs that pose a danger must be removed promptly (with precautions to protect passersby), and awnings extending over public places must be kept free of snow and ice. If your building sits close to a public sidewalk, overhead snow and ice is part of your winter maintenance scope, not just the ground.

How commercial properties stay compliant (without thinking about it)

The pattern behind every part of the bylaw is the same: snow response has to be routine and fast, not reactive. That's exactly what a commercial snow contract is for:

• Automatic response after snowfall — sidewalks and entrances cleared inside the 48-hour window without anyone at your office having to call it in.
• A snow storage plan — knowing from day one where snow gets piled, and hauling it off-site with trucks and loaders when the lot fills up, so it never ends up on the road or a neighbour's property.
• Documentation — service records showing when your site was cleared and treated, which is precisely the paper trail you want if a bylaw complaint or slip-and-fall claim ever lands.

UniTeam Pro Services handles all three for commercial and industrial properties across Fort McMurray and the Wood Buffalo region — plowing, sidewalk crews, sanding and ice control, and off-site hauling with our own fleet. See what's included in our commercial snow removal service, or read when to book your winter contract (short answer: before the season starts).

Questions about your site's frontage, storage space, or what a season of compliance costs? Call 780-713-5666 or use the chat — quotes are free and no-obligation.