Courier vans and its employees have regularly used the gravel parking lot near the artificial turf fields off Dorman Rd. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

sort it out

Shipping firm warned to leave Nanaimo parking lot

Aug 12, 2021 | 5:28 AM

UPDATE: Corporate Couriers Logistics issued a statement on Friday, Aug 13 regarding its use of the City of Nanaimo’s parking lot at Beban Park off Dorman Rd. near the artificial turf fields.

The City recently established a Sept. 7 deadline for the company to no longer use the parking lot since increased public usage of the area is slated in the coming weeks and months.

“We appreciate and understand the City’s position and direction, and have instructed our staff of drivers to find alternative appropriate, safe options for conducting morning organization,” the CCL statement read.

The company noted it has been unsuccessful securing necessary commercial space for years in Nanaimo in an extremely tight real estate market.

EARLIER: A company delivering thousands of packages daily throughout Vancouver Island has been told to stop using City of Nanaimo property as a sorting depot.

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The City’s director of facilities and parks operations Art Groot told NanaimoNewsNOW a courier company using the gravel parking lot next to Merle Logan Field at Beban Park was told to vacate by Sept. 7.

“This also coincides with kids returning to school etc. Regular parking use is anticipated to return, so formally informing CCL (Corporate Couriers Logistics) well in advance of that date allows for other arrangements to be made by the company,” Groot said in a statement.

Typically about 20 vans and its drivers at any given time have been spotted sorting mounds of packages in the parking lot in the mornings for roughly an hour since at least January.

CCL is contracted by Amazon to deliver upwards of 20,000 packages daily throughout most of Vancouver Island, according to a company representative.

A CCL rep pledged to obey the City’s Sept. 7 deadline, but declined to comment further on its unsanctioned use of the parking lot or its alternative sorting arrangements.

The company, based in the nearby industrial zone, has seen the number of packages it ships increase substantially during the pandemic.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes