An empty, city-owned lot in the Burnaby Heights area slotted as a future parking spot has caught the ire of a local couple.
Catherine and Albert Homenchuk live in the Heights area. The two recently wrote a letter to council expressing their concern over a lot at the corner of Carleton Avenue and Pender Street, which they say has become an unofficial dumping ground.
"In our neighbourhood, on the Heights, we, the property owners, do the very best we can to keep it clean, free of garbage and debris," the Homenchuks wrote in their letter to council. "And yet, there is a property at the end of our block, which the City of Burnaby has owned for a very long time that is a continual eyesore."
The Homenchuks said they have to call the engineering department to clean the mess of furniture, mattresses, TV's and general garbage that end up on the site.
But Leon Gous, engineering director at the city, said the spot hasn't had many active calls lately.
"We do go there three times a year and mow and pick up garbage whenever it's required," he told the NOW. "As soon as someone complains, it's in the works order system, and there's nothing recently. It doesn't seem to be a particular hot spot in that sense."
Gous said the department's road crew maintains the empty lots in the city.
"This one is not huge on our radar," he added. "But there's always a problem with any vacant lot in the city. When people dump mattresses, normally we get a call for our guys to go pick it up."
In their letter, the Homenchuk's suggest turning the empty lot into something people don't want to put garbage on - such as a community garden or a parking lot.
"I thought the mandate was to make the corner lots into parking lots," the Homenchuk's noted. "Please, do something about these lots and help us to keep our neighbourhood clean."
The city has a long-term plan to convert several empty lots along the Heights into parking lots. In 1991, Burnaby committed to building 15 parking lots in total, but it's four short from completing the goal, according to Lou Pelletier, director of planning and building.
"Before council went ahead with the next number of lots that could be developed, they wanted to make sure staff had done a review of the parking program," he said. "To see what the demand is for parking and where are these lots, if they're in the right location or not to serve parking needs."
The review is still on the staff periphery, but Pelletier said the parking program was meant to be built over time. The four locations are: Pender Street and Madison Avenue, the north side of Hastings Street and Gilmore Avenue, and one on each side of Carleton and Pender.
The question of whether or not the Heights needs more parking lots has a clear answer for Isabel Kolic, executive director of the Heights Merchants Association.
"Parking sections of the Heights still continues to be a challenge," Kolic told the Burnaby NOW. "We do think those four should be completed, and we're certainly eager to see them completed. We also know the city is aware of it, and they're working on it."
The lack of parking lots on some areas of the Heights has made it difficult for businesses to attract more customers, who end up making the decision to pull over or go straight home if parking isn't conveniently available, Kolic said.
"I do hear from businesses that they can attract dumping and that sometimes there's a couple of lots that become occasionally overgrown," she added. "The city does take care of it pretty promptly. If for some reason it gets missed, we bring it up to them. They're very swift to address it."
The Homenchucks did not respond to the Burnaby NOW's request for comment by press deadline.
