Charlottetown city council is again allowing a snow removal company to operate out of its present location for one more season.
Even though the property was zoned residential, Chapman Bros Snow Removal has been operating out of the old Creed’s Petroleum building at 17 Ralden Ave., just off St. Peters Road near the Needs Convenience store.
It was the same case last winter where council allowed the company to operate out of the location as a non-conforming use as the property was zoned residential.
About three years ago, the property was reverted to low-density residential.
Chapman’s has been operating from 17 Ralden Ave. for the past few years from Dec. 1 to May 1 or as snow removal is needed.
Coun. Terry Bernard, chairman of the public works committee, asked council at its regular public monthly meeting on Tuesday to let Chapman’s have one more winter on Ralden Avenue.
“Chapman Brothers had a (new) location for this coming winter,’’ Bernard said. “The building (they had) got sold so they were left scrambling for a place for their plow equipment.’’
Bernard said, from a public works perspective, when it comes to keeping the roads free of snow they want the plows in the most convenient place possible.
“They had put a request into (the) planning (department) to see if they could use the building one more time for five months and at the end of the season they would look to get their own building. Right now, it basically becomes a time crunch.’’
About 50 letters on the matter went out to residents. Five came back, one in favour of letting Chapman’s stay and four against.
Bernard said the concerns are completely understandable.
“Anytime you have commercial next to residential there’s always going to be that concern and a lot of those concerns (centre around) noise and plows will be going certain hours of the evening (or) whenever they’re called upon. From a public works perspective and for the safety of our residents we want to make sure the plows are able to get out to plow the roads as soon as possible.’’
Bernard said Chapman’s has real estate people actively searching for a new location but haven’t been able to find a suitable location.
“It has been a good location,’’ he said, referring to Ralden Avenue. “The building has been commercial for the last 30 years. This is a one-off opportunity. They had a (new) building (and) it got sold out from under them. It’s November. We want to make sure they can get can get out on the streets as soon as possible. This will get us through winter.’’
