New winter season, new problems for the Plaza St-Hubert canopy. Yellow ribbons appeared Friday, on several sections of the street, the ice and snow accumulated on the installation threatening to fall on passers-by.
“The snow was slowly going towards the street on the awning, so for safety reasons, we had no choice but to put that, to make sure that no one crossed below”, explained to La Presse the general manager of the local business development company (SDC), Mike Parente.
He says the situation should be resolved shortly, with teams expected to come “remove all the snow on the awning” in the evening. Nevertheless, the situation noted by The Press again raises doubts about the very design of the infrastructure.
The new Plaza St-Hubert awning, paid for at a high price, should not require any snow removal. However, in December 2021, The Press revealed the existence of municipal documents according to which the City will ultimately have to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to have it cleared by hand. “Contrary to the initial premise, the awning does not hold the snow in place,” noted the officials in a document from the borough council of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie.
Result: the borough had to have the canopy cleared of snow urgently at the end of February 2021, at the first thaw of winter. A “delicate operation” and costly because it is impossible to get workers on the structure, which forces them to clear snow with shovels, from nacelles, at night. Only plastic or Teflon tools can be used to avoid damaging the large glass plates that make up the canopy roof.
” Negative impact ”
For Mr. Parente, this saga must absolutely be resolved quickly. “We were guaranteed, at the start, that it was going to be able to hold up to 5m of snow, but it doesn’t look like they saw that it could empty so easily”, illustrates- he.
“We are still waiting for plans from the City which are supposed to make a modification to precisely limit the need to clear the snow from the awning and everything. There is also a question of lighting: the street is not lit as promised. They tell us that it meets the standards, but as for me, it should exceed the standards. In short, it’s not what we were promised, ”continues the DG.
All these problems with the marquise, “it does not give a good image”, also underlines Mike Parente. “It has a negative impact, especially on days like today when there are a lot of people who are there, who have started shopping for the season of balls and weddings,” he sighs.
Mayor Valérie Plante’s office had not answered our questions at the time of writing these lines.
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- 22 million
- The new marquise cost the taxpayers 22 million. Until a long-term solution is found, “there will be significant costs,” according to city officials, who had spoken of a transfer of $90,000 to pay for two snow removal operations in 2021.
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