Rilling Bus Ltd appeared before the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday seeking an exception to allow for two buses to be parked in a residential area of the city.
“The two buses in question make numerous trips throughout the day to move students back and forth to events such as band, industrial arts, extracurricular activities, etc. This in turn is very inconvenient for our drivers to run buses and cars back and forth to a compound area then return back to it within a few hours,” explained Ron Wunder with Rilling Bus Ltd, who appeared before the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
It is much simpler and cost efficient for the driver to take the bus to Glenda’s driveway for that quick time period. As Glenda’s driveway is a few blocks from the schools drop off and to get to the compound is across town. These two buses will travel 20 – 28 extra kilometers per day on your city streets to comply with your proposal, he said.
Rilling Bus Ltd has a permission letter from Glenda Loster and an acceptance letter from hr neighbour, also pictures of the bus parking area are included with this letter. As you can see there is ample room to park the buses including a four foot area from the sidewalk. There are also no sight restrictions from any traffic, he continued.
The issue came up when the City, “received a written complaint about a school bus parking on a residential street and/or in a residential driveway. The Bylaw Enforcement Officer and City Clerk noted that the City received other complaints in previous years about school buses parked in residential areas,” Nicole Baptist, Bylaw Coordinator, with the City, told Council.
Baptist told Council they reviewed Yorkton Bylaws, finding three relating to the complaint.
In the Traffic Bylaw it states, “No person shall park a vehicle exceeding a Manufacturers G.V.W. of 4400 kilograms or an overall length of more than six meters on any public highway or public parking lot excepting recreational and emergency vehicles, and public transit vehicles,” offered Baptist.
The Property Standards Bylaw notes, “All residential driveways are to be kept free of the following: any commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight exceeding 8,000 kg. or a total length of greater than 6.7 metres.”
And in the Zoning Bylaw “Commercial vehicles between 4,500 and 9,000 kilograms are not ancillary to residential use. Such vehicles are only permitted to park on a private property in residential areas once per seven days for no more than 48 hours and shall in no circumstance be permitted to idle for more than 15 minutes,” she said.
Further Baptist said, a public highway in the Traffic Bylaw refers to any street or lane.
“A school bus is not considered a public transit vehicle as it is not available for the general public to use,” she said. “An average 66 passenger school bus weighs approximately 6,800 kilograms and is typically 10.7 metres in length.
“Based on the Traffic Bylaw and Property Standards Bylaw sections previously noted, on April 13th, 2016 we issued a Notice of Contravention to the Good Spirit School Division 204 and Christ the Teacher Catholic School Division informing them of the Bylaws and notifying them that as of May 2nd, 2016, Bylaw Enforcement would begin issuing tickets.”
“On April 26th, 2016 the City of Yorkton received a letter requesting an exception to the Bylaws for the remainder of the 2016 school year. On April 29, 2016 Mayor Maloney granted an exception to the Bylaws until June 30th, 2016 to Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools and Good Spirit School Division 204 to allow additional time to arrange alternative parking,” detailed material circulated to Council.
“On June 7th, 2016 the City of Yorkton received a request from Christ the Teacher Catholic Schools to waive the Bylaws for two bus drivers. On June 8th, 2016, we responded that we were not able to waive the Bylaws.”
Baptist said, “It is important to note that many cities across Saskatchewan also have Bylaws restricting commercial vehicle parking in residential areas.
“Maintaining an enjoyable atmosphere in the residential neighbourhoods is important to residents. Furthermore, if we grant an exception from our Bylaws allowing two buses to park in residential driveways we would have to do the same for all buses in Yorkton and then the integrity of our Bylaws would be void.”
Councillor Chris Wyatt said the two specific buses in the request “fit in the driveway,” so he didn’t “see a problem,” with “no undue hardship” to the city.
Coun. Les Arnelien said the problem is “if we allow this one exception we have to throw the Bylaw out … I’m not prepared to do that.”
Coun. James Wilson agreed.
“It’s a law. We have to uphold the law,” he said.
Coun. Ross Fisher was on-side with maintaining the status quo reasoning the City zones in a certain way that fits with the particular needs of a neighbourhood.
Wyatt countered that an exception would not drastically change things.
“Let’s not think every street will be dotted by yellow school buses,” he said.
In the end the request for an exception was denied by motion with only Wyatt opposed.
