City council had a lengthy discussion during its May 24 meeting about handling parking on narrow streets in the community before referring the matter to city administration for more information.
Déjà vu all over again
“This is such a déjà vu (situation and) what we experienced before when we addressed narrow streets on Sixth Avenue. There was no concession provided to those residents. It simply turned into one-sided parking,” said Coun. Crystal Froese, noting the presenters’ concerns were the same as what homeowners had in 2016.
Froese thought a better communications strategy should have been implemented to answer these questions. Meanwhile, she thought narrow streets were charming and part of the community’s heritage. She noted that many Canadian cities have historic, narrow streets and have found solutions instead of widening them.
The big picture
Coun. Heather Eby thanked the presenters for bringing a potential solution and not simply pointing out how bad the problem is.
The problem, however, is that council must obey the National Fire Code, which says that roads less than nine metres in width must have one-sided parking, so emergency vehicles have access, she continued. While she understood the residents’ concerns, if council didn’t follow the code and an emergency happened, then “God forbid, the seven of us are the ones that pay the price” and be liable.
Experts provide council with the information, while members must consider the big picture for the whole community, Eby said. Even though city administration has advised against widening narrow roads after installing new water mains — mature trees would be affected — she thought it was a great idea that had happened on other similar streets.
A council report indicated that local improvement projects require 51 per cent of property owners to agree to the cost. The uniform rates bylaw says curb and gutter work costs $3,505, while pavement costs are $5,486.40, totalling $8,991.60 per property.
Change the bylaw
Mayor Clive Tolley wondered if homeowners could legally park on the boulevard — or if council could even make such a motion — since that would be something police would enforce.
City manager Jim Puffalt replied that city administration checked the traffic bylaw and it is illegal to park on boulevards. However, council could amend the bylaw to make it happen.
Tolley noted that many people in the avenues park illegally on the boulevards anyway, so he thought changing the bylaw would better reflect what’s happening than having people violate the law.
Unnecessary imposition
While she was opposed to residents parking on the boulevard, Coun. Dawn Luhning thought imposing one-sided parking was unnecessary since the residents didn’t have issues with wide vehicles accessing the road. She pointed to a presenter’s story of the fire trucks attending to a fire as evidence.
“We have rules we have to follow, (but) then we have people who live on these blocks and see everything … and understand how their blocks work,” she continued, noting it will be about five years before the water mains are replaced on those streets.
“I think that sometimes we have to consider how residents feel and how they know how their block works.”
City hall’s perspective
City administration played a video during a previous council meeting about how narrow the streets are for fire trucks. While that was filmed in the summer, navigating narrow streets in the winter would be worse, said Puffalt.
City hall is concerned about negatively affecting mature trees if narrow roads are widened since they bring “a huge amount of character” to the avenues, he continued. Furthermore, most property owners would have to agree to the local improvement project and its costs.
Municipal officials prefer people to park on driveways and not illegally on boulevards, because even though homeowners would face costs to install driveways, city hall wouldn’t worry about fire trucks navigating those streets — especially in the winter, Puffalt said.
Allowing homeowners to park on the boulevards would set a precedent, he added
A tight squeeze
Coun. Doug Blanc visited the avenues and took dash-cam videos, which recorded vehicles on the streets in the afternoon and evening. He also drove the alleys and found them narrow for his truck.
City administration has said that widening the streets would damage the trees, he continued. However, he contacted two greenhouses, which said the trees’ roots are so wide and deep that little would hurt them unless city crews cut right beside them.
Blanc then wondered if the fire department had ever considered purchasing smaller fire trucks.
Purchasing a small fire truck for narrow streets would hamper service since water and pump capacity would be reduced, said Deputy Fire Chief Mike Russell. While a standard fire truck cab and chassis are 100 inches wide — enough to squeeze down narrow streets — the side mirrors are 24 inches wide, which could hit adjacent vehicles.
“A fire truck may fit down a certain roadway, but it has to be operable on that roadway. We have to be able to pull equipment off the truck, use appliances on the truck and do our jobs … ,” he added. “That’s where the fire code is very specific and … parking must not affect the fire truck from doing its job.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, June 13.
