Parking on Gilana Place, a residential street next to Sherman Road Soccer Park, has become a nightmare for Harold Bierman.
Bierman lives at the end of a driveway that also serves a couple of other homes at the west end of the dead-end street.
He said when sporting events are taking place in the soccer park, the top of the driveway regularly becomes blocked off by parked cars belonging to people attending the events.
Bierman said not only is that an annoyance for the residents living on the driveway who can’t get their vehicles in and out, it’s also a safety hazard as emergency vehicles can’t access the area.
“It’s a real gong show,” he said.
“I’ve been after the Municipality of North Cowichan to put a ‘No Parking’ sign at the top of the driveway for years, but nothing ever gets done. All I’m asking for is a sign.”
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To further his frustrations with the municipality, Bierman said a parking lot owned by North Cowichan and user groups located next to the Glen Harper Curling Club, which is adjacent to the soccer fields, is locked and gated and sits empty during sporting events.
“Why can’t they open up the parking lot there during sporting events and take the pressure off Gilana Place?” he asked.
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Don Stewart, North Cowichan’s director of parks and recreation, said he wasn’t aware of the parking problems on Gilana Place as it has not been brought up recently by Bierman.
He said he is currently working on Bierman’s concerns in an effort to solve some or all of the parking issues.
As for the curling club’s parking lot, Stewart said there is an agreement in place for its use, and it has been used for years.
He said he suspects it hasn’t been used much lately because soccer has not been played regularly in the park since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than a year and a half ago.
“I’ll discuss it with the groups, but there is an agreement in place for its use and has been for a while,” Stewart said.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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