Aurora outlines snow-and-ice plan, emphasizes keeping emergency services running
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Summary
Public works described Aurora’s 2025–26 snow-and-ice plan, including storm categories, route priorities, equipment and a residential pilot allowing HOAs/metro districts to enter IGAs for localized snow removal.
Kurt Mjollmeyer, Aurora’s director of public works, presented the city’s 2025–26 snow-and-ice control plan on Dec. 15, saying the department’s primary objective is to “ensure that our emergency services — fire, police, EMS — remain functional during snow events.”
Mjollmeyer described a four-tier storm classification (category 1: trace–2 inches; category 2: plowing required; category 3: 6–12 inches; category 4: extreme events) and a priority-routing system that assigns arterials as Priority 1, collectors serving hospitals and schools as Priority 2, neighborhood collectors as Priority 3 and outlying rural roads as Priority 4. He said the city typically staffs for a category 1 storm and must call on other departments for larger storms.
On materials and equipment, staff said Aurora uses a proprietary salt product called iSlicer (no sand or gravel) and maintains a mixed stockpile of granular and liquid deicers. The city can deploy up to about 90 pieces of equipment (roughly 60 snowplows plus loaders, graders and blowers) to service roughly 1,600 lane miles.
Mjollmeyer also reviewed sidewalk responsibility and residential options. Under city code, adjacent property owners are responsible for clearing sidewalks; the city will remove snow placed on sidewalks by plowing in extreme storms. He outlined a pilot permitting homeowner associations and metro districts to enter intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) to perform their own interior-street snow removal if they meet insurance and equipment standards. Current pilot participants include Blackstone, Forest Trace and South Shore.
Council members pressed staff on specific problem areas — including sidewalks and bus stops on Smoky Hill — and staff agreed to research whether particular sidewalk stretches are city-owned or the responsibility of property owners or metro districts and to follow up with the council member who raised the issue.
The presentation closed with staff noting the department’s ice-cutting workload and an acknowledgment of field crews’ work during winter operations.
