If you can’t beat ‘em in the alley, you can’t beat ‘em on the ice.
Conn Smythe, former Toronto Maple Leafs owner, once espoused those words as his credo for winning hockey games.
But the same analogy could be applied to Lower Sunningdale residents, who petitioned City Hall to have garbage collection moved from the back alley to city streets for the winter months.
Despite a petition of 39 per cent of resident names—with 83 per cent in favour of the move—a city staff report on the matter found additional costs would arise if the change was made and council voted against the move.
It was found that front street pick up would hamper numerous owners that were unable to get their garbage to the front street. This would result in the refuse collection contractor having to pick-up in both lanes and the front street.
Alpine Disposal indicated that if the city were to approve both front street and lane pick-up at the same time, the additional cost would be $2,200 per month or $8,800 for the four-month period. This cost would probably increase to $10,000 as there would be a transition period for residents to get used to the change in both December and April.
“The combination of the petition and the city poll have resulted in only 62 per cent of the owners who responded being in favour of front street pick-up. Therefore we are recommending to continue with lane pick-up through the winter season,” wrote Warren Proulx, the city’s engineering technician, in his report to council.
The refuse and garbage collection contract has a clause where the city can change the location of lane pick-up if the lanes become impassable due to snow or mud.
The city’s records indicated that 122 properties in Lower Sunningdale received their collection from the rear lane. The city wrote letters to all 122 property owners in Lower Sunningdale and asked if they supported or did not support the proposed change.
A total of 61 owners replied to the letter with 29 in support and 32 opposed to the change. With only 61 of the 122 (50 per cent) who replied to the city’s letter city staff decided to combine the petition and its own poll to determine the results of the combination.