City hall wants to restrict parking on narrow streets because it is difficult for city and emergency vehicles to travel on them when responding to situations.
During the March 28 executive committee, city council unanimously voted on a recommendation to restrict parking to one side of a street fewer than nine metres in width. The public works and utilities department will use $8,000 from its 2022 operating budget to install street signs to restrict parking, while another $8,000 will come from the city manager’s contingency fund.
The remaining installation work — estimated at $16,000 — will be referred to the 2023 operating budget deliberations.
The recommendation will be official once council passes it during the April 11 meeting. Once the list of affected locations is released, the first batch of signs could be installed by this fall.
The cost per sign is roughly $900 per block and city hall estimates 35 streets need to be addressed, so the total cost is roughly $31,500, a council report said.
Assessing older areas
Several years ago, city administration reviewed narrow streets in older areas, particularly near Central Collegiate, Peacock Collegiate, Vanier Collegiate and Saskatchewan Polytechnic, explained Fire Chief Rod Montgomery. City hall received many complaints from residents, while there were concerns about emergency vehicles having limited access.
One issue with narrow roads is that public works, transit, parks and recreation, the fire department now use equipment that has increased in width, making it difficult to access the entire street, he continued.
City hall assessed the roads’ hazards and accessibility using drone technology. They found that current parking policies inhibit emergency vehicles from accessing one side of residential buildings on certain streets, contrary to the National Fire Code of Canada (FCC) and National Building Code of Canada.
One suggestion was to widen the streets when replacing cast iron pipes and let property owners pay, said Montgomery. However, it was unknown when the replacement would come to those areas, while the loss of hundreds of mature trees would hurt the urban forest.
Learning lessons
The fire chief then showed council a video and pictures of how tight the streets are for emergency vehicles when vehicles are parked on both sides. He noted that Moose Jaw’s streets were originally designed for horses and buggies and are tighter than desired.
In 2017, council imposed one-sided parking restrictions on narrow roads near Saskatchewan Polytechnic and the north-central area to address those concerns.
“I don’t believe personally we’ll see public opposition to this” next phase to impose similar restrictions on other narrow streets, Montgomery said.
One lesson city hall learned from 2017 is that vehicles should park on the west side, so driving is easier in the winter, he added. These changes could also dissuade motorists from parking on — and damaging — the boulevards and further narrowing the streets.
When residents park on both sides and block access to a burning building, the fire department can use hundreds of feet long hoses and attach them to nearby fire hydrants, Montgomery told council. It’s not the best option, but it is one solution.
“It only has to happen once and the liability eyes are on us,” he added.
Communicating clearly
The communications plan for this project must be effective since this was a heated topic in 2017, said Coun. Crystal Froese. By switching streets to single-side parking, some residents will park their vehicles in other neighbourhoods and cause further stress.
“We’re definitely going to see some people raise some red flags around that,” she added.
The 2017 discussions were heated because Sask. Polytech students hijacked the meetings, replied Montgomery. When municipal officials spoke with homeowners, they were calmer and more peaceful in their discussions.
There have been only four complaints since those 2017 changes, said Coun. Dawn Luhning, who noted this has been a problem since the 1990s. She added that council would receive more complaints when an emergency happens on narrow streets and emergency vehicles can’t get there.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, April 11.
