PORT HAWKESBURY: Yard sales, flea markets and similar activities are no longer permitted at a property located near the westernmost portions of Reeves Street, with safety concerns arising in discussions between town officials, the property owners, police and local residents.
As of this past Friday afternoon, vendors are prohibited from setting up shop at a paved property which formerly housed an Irving gas station and is still under the ownership of Irving Oil. A press release signed by Port Hawkesbury’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Terry Doyle, indicates that such vendors may peddle their wares from a temporary location at nearby Prince Street Park until a permanent solution can be found.
The release was issued less than 24 hours after Port Hawkesbury town councillors voted unanimously to contact Irving Oil officials and seek a clear statement that temporary sales are not welcome on the site, which is located next to a section of Reeves Street that has a posted speed limit of 70 kilometres per hour. The vote came at a special meeting of Port Hawkesbury Town Council that saw nearly two dozen residents in attendance, including several that spoke in favour of the town’s actions.
In assessing the situation, Doyle cited a July 27 meeting between town officials and the commanding officer for the RCMP’s Port Hawkesbury detachment, Staff Sgt. Greg Redl, and noted that local police have pledged to enforce Nova Scotia’s Motor Vehicle Act should Irving Oil officials make such a request with regards to their Reeves Street property.
“Staff Sgt. Redl indicated that the appropriate law is the section of the Motor Vehicle Act, Section 149 – ‘no person shall be in a vehicle standing on property of which he is not the owner or tenant, without consent of the owner or tenant,’ and basically we can’t do that for more than an hour,” Doyle explained.
“So you can’t leave a vehicle parked longer than an hour, and there are already signs posted by Irving to that effect. That would come into effect if we had a letter from Irving saying they want them to enforce this law, and the RCMP have indicated that they would enforce the law.”
Doyle added that the vendors in question “definitely don’t have the permission of the owner” to use the property, with the CAO and Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton adding that the measures taken last week will not affect the use of a nearby park or the presence of donation boxes for the Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian Diabetes Association.
At the request of councillor Hughie MacDougall, the motion requesting action from Irving Oil was amended to stress town council’s safety concerns, which have arisen at the council table for several months.
“The reason we’re doing it is for safety reasons, and because it’s a safety hazard to the Town of Port Hawkesbury,” said MacDougall, who noted that this issue dominated the July 27 discussion between town officials and members of the local RCMP detachment.
“There were a lot of issues discussed, and the biggest one was safety.”