Blowing snow in early December left this road in Castleridge impassable. (Submitted by Glen Little)City council has approved a motion aimed at providing better snowplowing and snow removal on the city's residential streets.

The plan, put forward by Ald. Ric McIver, still has to go through the audit committee, which will determine how much the new motion will add to the city's snowplowing budget.

McIver's proposal includes:

• Allowing people who own snow removal equipment to clear their own streets.
• More city vehicles dedicated to clearing residential streets.
• An improved definition on what is impassable and a deadline set to clear those streets.
• Changes to the city's parking policy during plowing to prevent vehicles from being buried in snowbanks.

The most important part is defining an impassable street, said McIver.

"What will the new standard for snow clearing be?" he said. "That's really what Calgarians care about. At the heart of it, they don't care who clears their snow. They don't care whether it's public or private. They don't care about anything, except that when they want to leave home, they can, and when they want to go home, they can."

Meanwhile, council rejected Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart's proposal to make snow tires mandatory on Calgary vehicles.

Ald. John Mar, who said his own snow tires cost $3,000, was among the aldermen who argued snow tires are too expensive to force on city residents. Those who voted against the idea also argued that snow tires fall under provincial jurisdiction.

Instead, aldermen asked city staff to come up with a report on the feasibility of making snow tires mandatory on all city-owned vehicles.

The city has overspent on its $23-million snow removal budget 14 out of the past 17 years.