Some downtown Wallaceburg business owners are upset about the lack of snow removal on Nelson Street.
Jay Lozon, a third generation barber at Bun’s Barber Shop, said he has had to help push customers out of the snow today, after they got stuck while parked in front of their business.
“It’s frustrating,” Lozon told the Sydenham Current.
“This is suppose to be our busy time of year. We’re having to turn customers away because they can’t park here.”
Lozon said this isn’t the first time the businesses along Nelson Street have dealt with this winter problem.
“We’re always left to last,” he said.
Jay Debuck, co-owner of The Stubby Goat on Nelson Street, echoed Lozon’s frustration.
“It snowed on Sunday, it is now Tuesday and there’s still snow on the Nelson Street parking spots,” he said.
“How are, not only my clientele, but other businesses on Nelson Street supposed to stay busy? I see James Street has been plowed since Monday morning. First the sidewalk, now the snow. Why pay taxes? Just to get shafted?”
Dawn Foster, manager at Foster’s Meats, said they went through the same experience last year.
“The cars can’t even park on the street because the snow is so heavy and if they manage to get parked, they can’t get from the road to the businesses… it is terrible,” she said.
“Nelson Street is one of the last streets to be cleaned and a very busy street.”
Miguel Pelletier, director of Public Works in Chatham-Kent, told the Sydenham Current his crews in Wallaceburg say this stretch along Nelson Street is “always a difficult area.
“Our night shift tonight (December 13) is going to get to it. The reason it wasn’t done before… it is a question or priority. They couldn’t do it during the day when there were cars. It’s always a difficult area,” he said.
Pelletier said his team always encourages feedback and comments from the public when these situations arise.
“We ask in the future if there is concerns from the citizens there, they can call it in,” he said.
“Then we’ll make sure it doesn’t get forgotten.”
The Public Works Department can be reached by calling 519-360-1998.
Pelletier his crews have pre-determined routes based on their priorities.
“The last snow storm, we started at 6 a.m. on Sunday,” he said.
“The first thing we were doing was putting out salt to prevent the ice from happening. Once we started seeing snow accumulating, then we started working based on the priorities. Of course, if we get to a parking area full of cars, then we won’t be able to do it, so then we’ll come back later. Our crews work around the clock. We had to schedule them so they have rest periods, but we started at 6 a.m. on Sunday and went all the way until about 6 p.m. on Monday.”
Pelletier said about 15 centimetres of snow fell during Sunday’s winter storm.
As mentioned by Pelletier, Municipal officials say streets designated as ‘priority’ are cleared first, then crews take care of the remainder of the streets.
“Clearing Chatham-Kent’s 3,500 km of roads require planning and prioritization to make sure the most citizens can have clearer roads in the shortest possible time,” Municipal officials stated.
“Each road is part of a predetermined route to ensure maximum use for the 78 pieces of snow clearing equipment. Each route is made up of a street list starting with the priority roads. Priority roads carry the higher volumes of traffic and are most easily identified as main (arterial) roads or secondary collector roads. These are the roads motorists use to get to business areas, hospitals and in and out of the city. Public and school bus routes are also considered in the first round of snow removal.”
Municipal officials say the other roads are primarily residential or secondary routes and these are systematically plowed after the ‘priority’ routes are completed.
“Most routes are assigned to one snow clearing unit, but in the case of the core area or multi-lane roads more units are provided,” Municipal officials stated. “Public Works road crews have a detailed list of streets in their ‘route’ to help ensure that all are cleared.”
For more answers from the Municipality to Frequently Asked Questions about winter control, check out this story: Chatham-Kent Winter Control FAQ
– Submitted photo
They need to make it mandatory that people can’t Park on the sides of the roads in the freaking winter. This was plows can get through and do their job properly. Most people in wallaceburg have driveways so use them! My street is a disgrace right noe because people Park on BOTH sides of the street, so the plow can’t get through properly. Grr winter issues!