After a successful trial project to initiate overnight parking restrictions for snow clearing in Banff last winter, council has voted to continue with the plan.
At an Oct. 10 council meeting, council unanimously agreed to continue with overnight restrictions from Nov. 15 to March 31 yearly.
Under the plan, vehicles must be removed from closure roads from 2-7 a.m. to allow for snow clearing.
In supporting the move to a yearly restriction, Mayor Karen Sorensen said she and other council members constantly hear about snow removal. “It’s interesting to see how many priority roads we have. We only have so many people and so much equipment and to me, when I look at the map, I see so many priorities, with back alleys and cul-de-sacs, it’s a challenge to say the least.”
Sorensen, though, said she also hears concerns that at times, vehicles are towed out of restricted areas, and at other times, are not.
“People I’ve talked to think we should tow all the time because of the buildup if a car gets left in a parking spot you can’t plow around it.”
Towing of vehicles, said Marc Breau, manager of streets and facilities, occurs in working with bylaw. “We try not to tow,” he said. “We actually come in early and take down licence numbers and residents are called. A lot of times, though, you can’t get a hold of them. Right now, it’s when there’s a safety issue.
“It is unfair for residents if a car doesn’t get moved and snow isn’t removed, we just don’t have the manpower and the opportunity to tow.”
Breau added that Banff is one of the only communities in Canada that doesn’t use chemical de-icers on our roads. We’re environmentally friendly that way and I think we do a great job of maintaining our streets.”
As part of the snow clearing process in Banff, acquisition of a new plow for a hook truck has been fast-tracked in the budget review process from 2018 to 2019.
The new truck planned for, said Breau, can have implements changed in as little as 20 minutes, as opposed to hours with a current one-ton gas truck.
The two-ton truck would be able clear alleys and parkades similar to the current truck. The plan would be to have an on-call driver have the truck at home, for example, for if RCMP needed sanding quickly on a certain road.
After last year’s trial project, said Coun. Stavros Karlos, “There’s been a massive difference as a result of this program on Bear Street. It’s been a very, very successful program.”
