Dear Editor:
If you live in a fourplex in Innisfail, you must be aware that the town now thinks of our garbage as ‘commercial' and will no longer be picking it up. Apparently, a fourplex is now considered commercial property, the same as an apartment building. What is the reasoning behind this? A threeplex is residential, but a fourplex is commercial? I can understand that an apartment is considered commercial and that a dumpster is necessary for the garbage pickup. So, is the only option for a fourplex to have a commercial dumpster on the property? Not only is a dumpster unsightly, a lot of the fourplex lots don't have ROOM for a dumpster.
It was bad enough that fourplex dwellers were denied recycling pickup (even though the town apparently promotes recycling), now our garbage pickup is being denied as well? What next?
The cost of residential garbage pickup is $16 per month per unit, equalling $768 per year per fourplex. For say, 20 fourplexes, that works out to a total of $15,360 lost revenue for the town. And what is going to be the cost of the commercial dumpster? Is our monthly rent going to have to be increased to cover this cost that is being dumped on the owners for the fourplexes?
This just doesn't seem reasonable to me; I would like to know just what the town's reasoning is for the latest decision.
R.G. Sutherland, fourplex resident.
