Schaumburg looking for places to store snow they plowed off streets

While blizzard cleanup efforts are largely going well in Schaumburg Thursday, officials say, one of their biggest problems is where to put all that snow.

Village Manager Ken Fritz said this is probably the main lingering issue in Schaumburg on the second day of the cleanup.

Snow that was simply pushed out of the way on the initial run must now be packed away differently for long-term storage. But in parking lots, cul-de-sacs and other places, space for this kind of snow storage is very limited.

There are also a few cars scattered around the village that were left behind by their owners, but for the most part Schaumburg is finding itself well situated after the storm, Fritz said.

Meeting residents’ high expectations for the speed of the cleanup has been another challenge. But while the snow on the road might not look that bad to the eye, the increase in difficulty between removing 4 inches and 20 inches is almost geometric, Fritz said.

The village began the storm with more than enough road salt to handle the situation, and its snow removal costs for the year had been actually below budget.

The blizzard has more or less brought costs up to where the budget expected them to be by this point of the winter.

The exact cost of the storm will likely be calculated in the near future so that the village can apply for compensation from the state, which was declared a disaster area by Gov. Pat Quinn, Fritz said.