Many suburban townships are not facing snow removal challenges on par with those presented by the narrow streets of Lancaster City. Lancaster Township, however, with the city-like density of some of its older neighborhoods and modern developments, has seen its fair share of winter weather woes in the past week.
According to township manager Bill Laudien, the local public works department typically handles the majority of snow removal in Lancaster Township. Depending on the size of a storm, they will supplement that workforce with professional contractors. For the Blizzard of 2010, Laudien said, “We had all our contractors and a couple of volunteers” working to keep roads as clear as possible.
Laudien said that he was “really happy” with the level of service that the township has managed to provide. He noted that during the winter events of the past week, the township actually received less resident complaints than in less severe snowfalls from years past. “I think people are being very patient and understanding,” Laudien said, “Once you get over 24 inches, I think people realize that there’s only so much that can be done.”
As the second wave of snowfall approached early in the week, township officials sought to prioritize areas for immediate service—something that they have never been compelled to do before. To optimize emergency response, the township developed a plan to keep fire stations and nursing homes as clear as possible at all times.
Laudien told NewsLanc that the accessibility of emergency vehicles was put to the test on Friday afternoon, when a car accident at President and Buchanan and a fire at Manor Shopping Center required all equipment mobilized. “We got the stuff out in a very quick fashion,” Laudien said, “It was a great test.”
During the snowfall, Mike Pickard, the township’s emergency management coordinator, volunteered his own personal truck and plow to give special care to the fire halls as well as tight residential areas not easily serviced by large vehicles.
Residents of col-de-sac streets—a snow removal nightmare when on-street parking is involved—were notified with signage prior to the storm that they must move all vehicles into their driveways. In some of these tight residential communities, the township had to bring in a front-end loader to remove collected snow.
According to Laudien, the budgetary impact of the past week’s weather will not be known until the end of the year. All will depend on how much snow comes in later months: “We have to get through the rest of February, March, and April. Then we have to get through November and December next winter,” Laudien noted, “Right now we’re okay.”
