Winter parking bans are common in many Maritime communities, but the Town of Riverview, N.B. is taking it a step further by considering a year-round ban on some neighbourhood streets.
“Never had any issues in my time,” says former Fire Chief Doug Hamer. “I was 37 years on the fire department, never had any issue getting through public streets.”
Hamer says the town claims the bylaw has been in the making for three years. He also says that if that’s the case, he has been kept in the dark.
“I was the fire chief three years ago. I don’t remember having any discussion about parking on the streets.”
The parking ban would affect 75 streets and give emergency officials unimpeded, year-round round access to homes on narrower streets.
Some residents say the ban is a good idea.
Miriam Bulmer she sometimes finds it difficult to navigate the narrow lanes left by people who park on the street.
“They usually line both sides of the street,” says Bulmer. “When the school concert was on, you couldn’t find a place to park.”
But Hamer says residents should be more concerned about the secrecy surrounding the implementation of the parking bylaw.
“I’m very suspicious there was no public vetting of this,” he says. “Issues like the transportation study is being publicly vetted.”
Rev. Brent Ham’s Anglican Church is on one of the selected streets. He says he has concerns about a reduction in available parking.
“Certainly during the wintertime when we lose a bit of our parking due to snow, I’d hate to see people walking too far up and down the street, especially for larger functions,” says ham.
No one from the Town of Riverview was available for comment today.
The new bylaw will come into effect in the fall.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis
