What if anything can be done about the fact that there is virtually no parking in Sprucedale on the main street? The businesses have to be hurting because they have small parking areas. Can council do anything about this?

I wonder who owns that wasted corner lot at the four corners.

It would make a good spot for community signage, a little parking lot for all the businesses, maybe a set of traffic lights, and a park bench.

It might promote tourism and community.

Seems a good investment for a small, growing town.

What businesses are we talking about?

The convenience store has enough parking for their customers.

The Post Office has enough parking for their traffic.

The General store has enough parking on the side to satisfy their customers.

The feed store's parking also has enough parking for their customers.

So what else is there?

Oh, yes the Hotel, it has enough parking for the OWNER & their employees! I Can't imagine a Hotel without a parking lot for their patrons? I agree that the empty corner lot is perfect spot for parking. The Hotel should seriously think about buying that lot!

It is their responsibility to supply parking for their customers! I hope it wasn't your intention that the Township should supply the extra parking. At any rate Merry Xmus everyone.

I've witnessed GeneralStore/CoffeeShop patrons using the Hotel parking quite often. The owners of each suffer at times.

The Store lot would need to be resurfaced, and the hotel just doesn't have the space. It is the fault of neither business-owner that they lack suitable property to maintain their customers, while attempting to maintain important heritage business buildings.

There IS however a suitable and inexpensive property which the township could use not only to promote two of their most prodominant businesses, but also to improve tourism and heritage.

Anyone passing through will likely keep going if there's nowhere to park. As the residents expand, and the businesses sustain and grow, so too is there a need for the township to keep up with the pace.

"The Store lot would need to be resurfaced"

So let the owner go ahead and do that, if he was really concerned about the parking and it was hurting business he would likely have done it years ago. Maybe a sign pointing to where to park would help for the store.


"The hotel just doesn't have the space"

Kindly have a look beyond the wooden fence on the East side of the Hotel!! Of course they don't have parking they have it all blocked off. There's plenty of room there for parking!!

These are private properties/businesses and the reality is that THEY need to spend a few $$ to improve their lot. No pun intended.

The other side of the fence of the hotel is the very neccessary septic system. There is also no access from the rear as it 'belongs' to the trail.
just an FYI

I know parking is a problem in town however I tend to disagree with you on "There is however a suitable and inexpensive property" If you are refering to the lot beside the coffee shop, I would think $24,000 is alot of the taxpayers money to be wasted on parking.The township didn't put up those signs so why would the township solve the problem? Why does it matter where anyone parks as I haven't seen anyone enforce or get a ticket?

The township crew used to look after the snow on the main street. Maki, Joiner and Armstrong all looked after it very well, but where are they now? Guess they didn't fit into councils plan. The new guy(s) seem to be slacking a bit. The visibilty from the intersections in town isn't up to par either.

this problem could have been solved when hotel owner was asked to get his patrions to move vehical off the road. we can all thank mike for this one:)also the sighs may not be inforced yet but keep on parking in new no-parking zone and garanteed sooner then later you will see.

Your husband came into the hotel like a dumb@%* when Mike was trying to raise money for cancer he looked like a fool in the eyes of the town.its not MIKE'S responsibiltie to tell his customers where to park and by the way it was legal parking at the time its your responsibilty to learn to drive according to the LAW!!!!!! and proceed with caution when entering a intersection. And I hope you got your husbands cigs on time.




Drive carefully!!!!!!
By the way did you get a licence yet????????

I have been burdened by this issue for some time now,all it would have took was for the hotel owner to have his patrons move their vehical. But complaints were not taken seriously so i felt commpelled to take further and more constructive action. I dread the thought of someone getting hurt or even killed due to the inaction of concerned and knowing citizens. You may not see anyone inforcing the signs but garantee that your licence plat number was taken and recorded.It's only a matter of time before their is a fatel accident,and just hopfully your not the one in the no parking zone,you would be liable for the death.

I agree that before it was only a matter of time before someone got injured or worse at the intersections. It was almost impossible to pull out of north or south Stisted safely. However, it would have been sufficient if the signs enforced no parking a safe distance from the corners not on the main street at all!

nice to see ur taking advantage of the opportunity this site offers; to voice your opinions. I would however strongly recommend that you do so anonymously (without writing your name in bold). personal opinions WILL bite you in the arse.

If there was going to be any tickets issued for illegal parking they would have to do it when the vehicle was parked there. Taking license plate numbers does not mean squat you dumb ass. Besides maybe you should ask your hubby how many times he has parked there since the signs went up! Instead of going in to ask the patron to move their vehicle, you should have just called the police, oops don't want to do that as they may have to come to your house!!!!! So what if there is no parking on the main street, people have adjusted to the signs and i'm sure life will go on. Some people still park there but maybe they just can't read, or a $25.00 parking ticket means nothing to them!

For your Info when in contact with MTO and Burksfalls OPP to arrange new no parking sign's I took on responsability to make sure they would be inforced. OPP nor MTO can be in sprucedale everyday because of people ignoring the sighn's, In order for the police to have any idea that people are elegally parking they have asked me or anyone for that matter to relay this information to them which includes time, date,place, licence number and vehical type. I know of three people in the first month to get worrning or fine and more since. If people arn't so worried about getting a fine why are they complaining. I also didn't know we had so many rich people in sprucdale that can afford a $25.00 every time they felt lazy.

1st of all get hooked on phonics...worked for me! 2nd I hope the OPP and the MTO are paying you well for your services...you know "cop wanna be". By the way when are you in town to take down all this information? 3rd do you really feel safe having an officer come to your door to collect all your information? Just curious. It's probably done by phone for security reasons I'm sure.

On a serious note: Why not target those who are parked on the CORNER and not every Joe who is parked on the main street? Isn't or wasn't that your beef in the first place? I take it upon myself to tell idiots to move their vehicles when they park right on the corner and do not run to the cops for brownie points. Isn't that simple?
Have a nice day!

Let me get this straight...

There is someone in Sprucedale that spy's on people parking illegally and call the OPP on them??

I knew it, I knew it, like I have said before, it's such a boring place that people have to find something to do!!!

Go to Burks Falls, I know you do, people park from corner to corner peolpe arent getting killed there every day.

i go to burks falls all the time yes your right, but when we do so we exit off the hwy and there are properly marked parking spaces. In front of the local dive is a candian hwy not a rd. you wouldn't just park you car in front of walmart and go in and spent a couple hrs shopping would ya.
P.S dose it make you feel good to make fun of somebodys spelling i think you may have p.o more than "cheryl" on this one. she can read a book to sharpen her skills, but ugly is stuck with you for ever.
WHATA JOY

I don't mean to critize however, your little blog doesn't make much sense. There is no proper marked spaces off the highway,into Burks Falls.

What local dive are you refering to? What's a Canadian Hwy? Is there a difference between Hwys?

I have parked in front of Walmart and went in to shop, whats your point?

I think that a few books should be checked out of the library on your comments.

Firstly, a 'Canadian Highway' sometimes referred to as a 'federal-provincial route' aka Queen's highway, is often marked with a Crown atop the highway number. The 400 series highways are Canadian highways, as are their extensions (example hwy400/11).

Secondly, if you pay attention to the signage in front of commercial establishments, you might notice a P with a cross through it, meaning 'no parking' This included places like Walmart, the Sprucedale Hotel, McManus General Store, Canadian Tire, hospitals, etc... The rationalle for preventing and enforcing No Parking in front of these locations is (generally) to allow guaranteed access by Fire Depts in case of emergency.
Its against the law to park in these spots. If you've been doing so, you might need a refresher in drivers-ed before you land yourself a ticket. In Sprucedale, 'rumour' has it the fine is only $25. I'd be willing to bet anywhere else it's more like $2000 + towing charges + impound fees + the taxi ride to pick up your vehicle.

So, if you think somebody else should check out some library books due to their comments, think again. You might be the one who needs the brushing up.

Thanks Long Arm. Nice to see someone put a little thought and some facts behind their comment.

local dive "sprucdale hotel"

So what you are saying burks falls main street is not a hwy do your home work .It is part of the 520 hwy mto plows hwys not town streets.

From the school to the bridge has not been plowed by the MTO nor has it been part of HWY. 520 for a long time. It is called Ontario street.