Yellowknife (Oct 02/06) - Private contractors employed to clear parking lots of snow say the city has left them out in the cold, and now they have nowhere to dump their icy loads come winter.

City hall informed private contractors Sept. 11, that they will have to dump their snow elsewhere after "regulatory agencies... indicated that it is no longer desirable to have large amounts of snow melting and possible leaching through the waste."

There will be no snow dumped at the landfill this winter due to concerns about spring melt leaching through waste. Private snow removal contractors, however, say they have nowhere else to go. - NNS file photo

There are around a half-dozen companies in the city that plow snow.

Darwin Rudkevitch, co-owner of Arctic Farmer Landscaping, said the city hasn't provided them with an alternate dumping site.

"We have nowhere to dump our snow now," said Rudkevitch.

"They just left us in the cold and a dump truck full of snow... It's every man for himself."

"It's awful, it's a nightmare for me," said Claude Mailloux, owner of Camco Construction, which has a contract with the federal government to remove snow from their parking lots.

"I don't know what the hell people are going to do."

While the city is responsible for clearing streets of ice and snow during the winter, private companies, whether they be apartment or condominium complexes or grocery stores like Extra Foods, must make their own arrangements to have their parking lots cleared.

According to private contractors, they're not allowed to use the city snow dump at the landfill.

Their's is an adjacent pile at the south end of the landfill.

Clifford Heal, owner of Heal C Construction, said the city often seems reluctant to work with them.

"They deal with these things in a kind of stand-off thing," said Heal.

"They say it's not our problem to look after contractors, but it's not really the contractor's snow. It's snow that's coming off of apartment buildings and businesses that all have a physical presence in Yellowknife and the city gets their money through taxes. I'd think the city could at least provide an area to get rid of their snow."

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said, however, that the city is looking at solutions.

Private contractors aren't the only ones getting the boot. Van Tighem said the city won't be able to dump snow at the landfill this winter either after the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board brought forward concerns that contaminated water draining from the landfill during spring run-off was escaping the site.

Board members and officials with the Land and Water board could not be reached for comment, as they are attending an oil and gas conference in Calgary.

"There's been an active search for other sites," said Van Tighem.

"They haven't concluded yet, but (the city) has two possible ones that they're working on that would be able to provide access to private contractors as well."

Possible sites include an area past the Kam Lake industrial park and the rock quarry near the landfill.

The city currently has a snow dumping site near Kam Lake but have agreed to stop dumping there this year after residents complained about the noise and polluted water that settled after the snow melted in spring.

Kim Rossignol, manager of Ace Enterprises, sympathizes with the city, saying it's global warming that's been the main culprit the last couple years.

"The invoicing I do for snow clearing it's like tripled from even three or four years ago," said Rossignol.

"It snows a lot more now. "