A few city councillors asked city staff Monday why crews did not do a better job of plowing some residential streets after a Boxing Day snowstorm dumped 15 cm of snow on Windsor.

Pete Matheson, the city's maintenance manager, tried to explain.

"If you can take a street in south Windsor that has a 24-foot width with pavement, you've got cars parked on both sides. That takes up about 12 feet of that width. It leaves 12 feet or less for a plow to get through," Matheson said. "It's extremely difficult for them to get through and there probably were some streets that they couldn't get down.

"We do ask the residents that have driveways to remove their cars from the street."

The cost of snow removal for the Boxing Day storm is estimated at half a million dollars.