Burk’s Falls council plans to discuss how it can rectify a snow bank situation at the Burk’s Falls, Armour and Ryerson Union Public Library that’s eating up parking spaces.
Library board member Robert Van der Wijst raised the issue at the council’s Dec. 17 meeting.
The five parking spaces allotted for staff and patrons are right in front of the library and are bounded by two retaining walls at each end. Van der Wijst says currently the contractor pushes any snow that falls up against the two retaining walls.
He says that’s a problem because the snow is not removed and as winter continues, there are fewer parking spaces. Van der Wijst said in his opinion this raised a safety concern.
Because of melting during the week of Dec. 16, the situation eased a little and there was no lack of parking spaces. However, Van der Wijst says the deeper we move into winter and the more snow that’s piled up against the retaining walls, the fewer parking spaces there will be for people.
Van der Wijst says he and the library board want provisions that the snow not only be plowed but also removed but the Village’s Chief Administration Officer, Denis Duguay, told Van der Wijst that removing the snow would increase costs to the village.
Duguay said the contractor is aware of the situation and he tries to make the parking spaces as wide as possible when plowing the snow. “But there is no other room to put the snow,” Duguay said.
“And if we have to remove the snow, then we have to try and recover the cost somehow.”
Duguay added to keep costs down, the snow has not been removed from the site when it’s plowed. It was noted that the previous contractor did remove the snow from the site but Mayor Chris Hope said on those occasions it was at the request of the municipality.
When Coun. Sean Cotton asked what type of service was necessary to satisfy the library board’s concerns, Wijst said the snow should be removed once in a while but didn’t offer a specific number. Staff told council the current contractor doesn’t have the snow removal equipment to haul the snow away and that someone else would have to be hired to carry out that operation.
Staff added the removal operations would have to occur frequently to maintain five parking spaces. There is no other option at the 39 Copeland St. site where vehicles can park.
Hope told Van der Wijst town council will have language drawn up for the library board to consider that may address the parking issue.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
