I recently held a meeting with some residents of the town houses on Kildare Road, between Cavendish Boulevard and Kellert Avenue. With Scott, David and Jo Hong I shared the discussions I had at the last Traffic Committee meeting over an issue they are having with restricted parking signs (Tuesday and Thursday) that went up in front of their homes.
With Jo Hong, David and Scott.
These same signs were removed when construction commenced in 2009 on their homes. Interestingly, there were no restricted parking signs present when work was complete in 2013. For six years that section of Kildare continued to have no such signs. According to Public Works this was a serious oversight on their part.
It turns out that it was a complaint from across the street, asking why they had no parking two days a week and their side did not. Engineering did some research and realized that the signs were removed during construction in 2009, but never put back. Since I was never consulted, I asked for a review and that finally took place yesterday. Public Works insisted that they had complaints for years that the sweeper during spring, summer and fall could not clean the street properly. Their personnel were not aware of the sign situation. At the meeting their operations director said they still need some restrictions in place.
For residents this poses a major inconvenience, notably when guests come over during the day or they themselves want to leave a car on the street instead of going back into the garage.
A compromise has been reached. They will only maintain restrictions between April 1 to December for the sweeper. Instead of two days, it will be part of one day. I spoke to Public Works and they are recommending Tuesdays from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm as the sweepers start in early spring and leaf season goes to the end of November. I will now wait for the Traffic Committee’s formal recommendation to come to City Council and the situation will be resolved.
One foot note: Montreal Transit Commission mandated bus lines will be introduced island-wide in the next year or so. That could impact on parking for everyone, including this stretch. We have no power on such decisions. We will keep everyone posted.
