LAC LA BICHE - Vehicle owners who fail to move their ride from the marked routes of snow-clearing equipment in Lac La Biche County hamlets will continue to get a break from the tow truck, say Lac La Biche County councillors. But the free-pass might not be there for long.
In recent removal efforts after several bouts of heavy snow, municipal crews have noted that vehicles parked on streets clearly marked for clearing can make the challenging job more challenging. The recent polar weather conditions, dropping the mercury to the minus 30s and 40s, didn't help either, says the municipality's acting CAO Dan Small.
Legal opinion
"The last two to three weeks, we've had lots of snow, lots of cold weather, lots of equipment break-downs and lots of snow removal," said Small, adding that there have also been lots of questions about what to do with vehicles left in path of graders on marked clearing routes. "There have been concerns about the vehicles that we have had to go around ... Is it legal for us to tow these vehicles? We've confirmed with our legal representatives that our bylaws are sufficient to do that."
And while legally the vehicles could be towed, and there are plans to make the consequence more apparent in future updates of the community's Community Standards Bylaw, municipal officials are emphasizing that that towing is a last resort.
Currently, along with the signage, social media notifications, provisions in the Community Standards Bylaw, the visible presence of heavy equipment on the streets, and even some door-to-door messaging from clearing crews, residents should be aware that a clearing is in progress.
Councillor Lorin Tkachuk said resident who forget, or who honestly didn't know, aren't the issue — it's the vehicles left on the streets that look abandoned which need to be addressed.
"The ones that have two feet of snow on the roofs and two flat tires that don't move, we could start by towing them," he said.
Councillor Kevin Pare said towing a few vehicles during a snow removal would "send a message."
"We've been letting it slide, so everyone thinks it's a bylaw without teeth. If we tow a couple, that will send a message," he said.
The current portion of the Community Standards Bylaw relating to parked vehicles in a location allows for a 72 hour maximum stay.
County administrators say the bylaw will likely be updated to include more specific actions relating to snow removal, but for the meantime, the tow truck hooks will likely not be coming out, says County Mayor Paul Reutov, who took time to commend the municipal crews for handling the difficult task — especially this snow season.
"This year has been exceptionally rough for the amount of snow we've got, and our crews need to be commended ... they are doing as much as they can," he said.
Lac La Biche County crews conduct about 10 large-scale street clearing events during the winter months. The most recent one was through the downtown areas of both the Plamondon and Lac La Biche hamlets last Monday night.
