Lennoxville curlers getting dinged by unclear parking rules
Several members of the Lennoxville Curling Club have received tickets for parking in the lot directly in front of the club.
With the Pie Bonspiel, one of the club’s biggest events of the season underway, members are worried visiting spectators and curlers who try to park in front of the club, as they did in the past without issue, will get a $33 parting gift.
The parking lot is the property of the Eastern Townships School Board, but is leased to the CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus for staff and clients of the CLSC, which has an office at the back of Lennoxville Elementary School on Speid Street.
Parking has always been at a premium in that part of town. There is a municipal lot across the street from the curling club, often occupied by staff from St. Antoine Elementary School who don’t have sufficient parking of their own. There is a second municipal parking lot beside the Florist shop at the corner of Queen and Speid.
Parking is not permitted on Speid near the club. The other spaces nearby belong to Provigo.
Until recently, curlers had been parking in the spaces, specifically those directly in front of the curling club, without issue.
In the fall of last year, the CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus contracted out the
management of the parking at its facilities to SPAQ (Société Parc-auto du Québec).
Signs were mounted in the parking lot in October, just before the beginning of the curling season began, but what they meant was unclear, because most of the signs were covered in black plastic bags.
At the end of January, a warning was left in the office of the curling club. Around the same time, a member was issued a $33 parking ticket.
Last week, three more members received parking tickets.
The consensus among club members was that there were no parking restrictions in place since the signs explaining the rules were covered. While some signs in the lot were uncovered, the assumption was that they had blown away in the wind or were torn off accidentally or by vandals.
Others who didn’t want to take a chance and were willing to pay for the privilege of parking in the lot went into The signs defining the parking restrictions of the lot in front of the Lennoxville Curling Club, currently leased out to the CHUS, are covered in black plastic bags. Even so, people are expected to respect the uncovered signs or face a $33 parking ticket. the CLSC, only to discover there is no system in place to accept payment for parking.
Marie-france Thibeault, media relations for the CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus explained that the parking lot in question is divided into two sections; one section is for users, visitors and volunteers of the CLSC. In that section, the signage is covered because the system to monitor and receive payment for those parking spaces has not yet been installed. Parking in that section, for the moment, is free.
The other section of the parking lot is reserved for staff. The signage in that section is uncovered and only holders of a permit from the CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus are allowed to park there.
Thibeault said the CHUS is currently in negotiations with the ETSB regarding the lease agreement, but could not discuss any details.
ETSB Communications Consultant Sharon Priest said that the board had been made aware of the Lennoxville Curling Club’s parking woes, and confirmed that a new lease agreement was being negotiated with the CHUS, but could not comment further.