It looks like a sand box outside of Bob McKinley’s Barrie home.
Sand can be seen piled up along the curbs, caked on the grass and clumped on snowbanks. He calls it a major eyesore.
“It's up your driveway, it's in your garage, your house, your car and you can see it piling up here,” he says. “It's getting to the point where the neighbourhoods start looking pretty trashy.”
He wants the City of Barrie to step up and remove it. But officials say there isn’t much they can do.
“Unfortunately there's not a lot that can be done. We come around as soon as we can; as soon as the weather conditions permit,” says Craig Morton, Barrie’s roads manager.
The city has a $50,000 budget and a set schedule to remove the sand. They say right now, it's just too early.
Officials say they've learned their lesson from sweeping streets in March or April when Mother Nature can still send snow and freezing rain our way.
“It would be a waste to go out and sweep up sand only to go out on those same streets tomorrow and put more sand down.”
Art Betteridge has taken matters into his own hands. He faces the same problem in at his south Barrie home.
“If you don’t get it off your lawn, your grass is going to die. They can't come on your yard and clean off the sand. You have to do it yourself.”
For now the city is asking residents not to pile up sand because it will only make it harder for them to sweep when they do come around.
“It won't be a couple of weeks before they finish. They won't finish until you're into June, almost July.”
