Cul-de-sac concerns challenging: councillor

By Kim Moar - The Weekly News
New snow-plowing procedures for cul-de-sacs in HRM are proving to be a pain in the back for residents that live on them.
Handspike Court resident Dave Hessian couldn't believe it when he looked out after last Wednesday's big snowstorm to see a five-foot-high by five-foot-wide mountain of frozen snow at the end of his driveway, and several of his neighbours' driveways.
"People are used to removing a little bit of snow piled in front of their driveway, but this is ridiculous," Hessian said of the daunting task.
Hessian said he and his neighbours have filed complaints with the city and called their local councillor, to no avail.
Hessian said so much snow was piled into his driveway and front yard, the street's fire hydrant was completely buried. The only thing visible was the red iron marker pole. In the past, snow has been plowed eight to 10 feet high into his front yard.
Hessian said luckily for him, he has two strong teenage boys who got the day off school and spent the day shovelling instead.
Middle Sackville Coun. Brad Johns said the city plow cul-de-sac rules have changed.
In the past, snowplows would clear the cul-de-sac by piling all the snow into the centre of the circle and then coming back later to remove it.
The city was advised to stop doing that about a year ago after a kid slid down the pile into an oncoming vehicle, and sued the municipality.
"So now what they're doing when they're plowing the cul-de-sac is they push all the snow and whoever the poor sap is at the end gets all the snow on their front lawn" he said.
Johns said he has asked city staff to stop doing that and simply plow it like any other road, distributing the snow throughout the cul-de-sac.
"I, as the councillor for the area, have ongoing concerns with the way HRM plows cul-de-sacs, and every year there seems to be a new and ongoing challenge with this," John said.
Another major complaint from cul-de-sac residents is the time it takes to get plowed out in the first place.
"Whatever it is, it seems HRM just can't get it right when it comes to cul-de-sacs," he said.
kmoar@hfxnews.ca