NW Illinois News

The Freeport City Council met on March 20 to discuss a new ordinance amendment creating regulations for the city and streets on salt usage for clearing roadways of snow and ice during winter.

The proposed change requires the city to remove excess salt from the roads and sidewalks to limit discharge and salt materials from making their way into the stormwater drainage system and into the water system of the city. The goal is to prevent overuse of snow-melt substances and align with the EPA standards.

“I think the intent of this ordinance is to truly track how much salt we are applying on our streets and reporting that to the to the IEPA so that they can come up with some new rules on how they're going to regulate how much salt we could put down,” said City Manager Randy Bukas. 

This was discussed by the council, with members asking about removal techniques and clarifications since they expected that residents or workers might just hose it off or brush it aside. This would go against the overall goal of minimizing contamination levels. 

Bukas added that they have a hard enough time getting people to shovel their sidewalks, let alone oversalting. Bukas said this is why there should be no issue.

“And if you do put too much salt down on your sidewalk, then you can sweep it up in a dust pan, like you said, and put it back in your bucket and reuse it next time,” Bukas said. “That’s what I do.”

Council members also discussed how they would have to more closely monitor usage levels to ensure driver safety and also follow the new amendment. If any salt was left on the roads after the snow melted the city would need to clean it up.

The ordinance adoption is part of the state’s requirement to adopt new laws created by the EPA for water and environmental protection each year. Council members felt this would be the easiest to adopt and monitor since it applies to residential streets abutting a main street and sewer, and they don’t see residents constantly oversalting sidewalks anyway. 

Alderman James Monroe said that as an atmospheric scientist this is “boggling his mind” because they are going to just sweep up the salt and throw it in a trash can that ends up in a landfill. He said it doesn’t make sense to him.

While the council expressed some doubt in the efficacy of the ordinance, they agreed with the reasons behind it, as it impacts wildlife and the environment. They said though it may be difficult to enforce, it pushes people to be held accountable. Council ultimately voted to move it forward to the next meeting.