Spring cleaning operations update
Spring maintenance operations are well underway with
the City of Vaughan’s Public Works teams working hard to keep the community
clean, safe and moving. Here is an update on the work:
Street sweeping, catch basin clearing and road maintenance
City crews began their annual city-wide street sweeping efforts in March and will continue until the end of May. Nearly 1084 bags of litter and debris have been removed from city boulevards (a total of 130 hectares) since March.
City crews continue to repair potholes in roads across Vaughan, with another round of pothole repairs beginning in June. The City also inspects more than 1,000 lane-kilometres of sidewalks annually for any defects and will schedule repairs; curb and sidewalk repairs will begin this month.
Annual grass cutting will also begin in May with a total of 13 rotations, each running for two weeks.
Traffic services
This month, the City will begin the annual pavement markings program, which involves repainting the line markings on roads to provide guidance to motorists and promote greater driver comfort. The City will also start the retroreflective sign program across Vaughan, which includes sign inspections and replacements. Replacing signs with new ones will help reflect light back to its source so drivers can see them better during overcast days or at dawn, dusk or night.
Additionally, so far this year, the City has repaired and re-energized a total of 259 streetlights to enhance safety and visibility for all road users.
Park litter and debris cleanup
The City’s spring-cleaning blitz began in March with the collection of litter from Vaughan’s parks and open spaces – a total of 480 bags of litter have been collected. These efforts will continue alongside weekly park garbage collection and turf-cutting, which occurs biweekly.
Starting this month, staff will begin spraying bee and wasp nests found in City parks and on playgrounds.
Park openings
Amenities that are open year-round:
- Benches, gazebos and picnic tables
- Dog parks
- Pathways and trails
Seasonal amenities that are open now, weather permitting:
- Baseball fields
- Basketball courts
- Bocce courts
- Natural soccer fields
- Outdoor fitness equipment
- Playgrounds
- Skateboard parks
- Synthetic soccer fields
- Tennis courts
- Volleyball court
Please note, sports facilities are available when they are not in use by a permit holder.
Parking lot gates and washroom facilities are open. Splashpads will be open on weekends only, beginning on Victoria Day – Monday, May 23. Starting on Friday, July 1, splashpads will be open daily.
Horticulture refresh
Throughout the spring, shrub beds and planting bed maintenance (pruning, mulching, weeding, litter clean up and watering) will run on a regular rotation. Annual plantings and a total of 550 annual hanging baskets and 750 planters will appear across the city, beginning on Victoria Day.
Forestry maintenance
Regular tree maintenance is currently operating at full capacity. A total of 15,000 trees have been pruned so far in 2022. Any hazards that need to be removed, such as trees or branches, are responded to in a priority sequence.
To help control the spongy moth population, the City began inspections of more than 2,000 City-owned trees in April throughout heavily infested areas. Staff have effectively removed egg masses from more than 1,700 trees. In April, the City started spraying Btk – an organic insecticide – in select parks and began TreeAzin trunk injections on heritage trees throughout the city.
Stormwater and wastewater services
Three rounds of litter pickup and grass cutting will be completed at and around all stormwater ponds (more than 150) starting this month.
Throughout April and May, the City cleans the bottoms of catch basins of sediment and debris in industrial areas annually and catch basins in residential areas on a three-year rotation. This year, all 10,000 catch basins that were scheduled for cleaning have been cleaned. Wastewater and stormwater sewers are inspected on a 10-year rotation, and wastewater sewers are cleaned on a three-year rotation.
Water maintenance
In April, the City began its annual inspections of fire hydrants city-wide and continues to perform flushing and swabbing of watermains to keep pipes clean and clear. Staff also attend water shut-off and turn-on requests year-round.
These maintenance efforts demonstrate how Vaughan’s Public Works professionals continue to go above and beyond to provide essential services that safeguard and enhance the quality of life in this growing city. This work reflects many priorities in the 2018-2022 Term of Council Service Excellence Strategic Plan, including Active, Safe and Diverse Communities; Environmental Stewardship; Citizen Experience; and Operational Performance.
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