Business at Laval car dealership, Auto Shelby, was forced to stop after city snowplows blocked the entrance, according to the business.
“It’s a wall of snow,” said manager Leonard Abraham, looking at the pile of icy blocks of snow outside the Boulevard du Curé-Labelle business.
READ MORE: Montreal kicks off massive snow-removal operation as families fill parks with snowmen
Since Saturday’s heavy snowfall, the dealership’s parking lot was inaccessible due to the snow pile, blocking access.
“Everything is stuck,” Abraham said.
Owner Mike Havitov claims city work crews intentionally piled the snow in front of the main entrance. He points to security footage taken Sunday that appears to show two city trucks pushing mounds of snow from the sidewalk and leaving it in front of the parking lot entrance.
Havitov says this is an ongoing issue with the city every major snowfall.
READ MORE: Montreal putting snow-removal plans together during COVID-19 pandemic
The city is aware of the issue, saying it has been dealing with the reoccurring seasonal problem for almost four years, Laval spokesperson Anne-Marie Braconnier said.
Braconnier says Auto Shelby is the one at fault for pushing snow from the car lot onto public property.
“We are pushing their snow back,” Braconnier said.
All snow left on the sidewalk is removed from the area, while the rest is the snow that was originally on Auto Shelby property, Braconnier said.
Abraham claims all the snow from the lot is pushed and stacked on the dealership’s property.
“It’s not our snow, it’s the snow from the street,” Abraham said.
The city and Havitov have spoken on numerous occasions surrounding the subject, but Havitov says nothing yet has come of those discussions.
READ MORE: Automated waste collection bins distributed in Laval
By Tuesday morning, most of the snow pile was removed by the city. Auto Shelby dealt with the remainder by piling it on its property Tuesday morning.
Comments