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A standoff between the city and residents is brewing over a plan to use parks as temporary dumpsites.

With the city workers strike in its fourth day, officials are set this afternoon to announce 19 new sites for residents to drop off their garbage. Officials in the city's solid waste management department say the sites will be "safe, and controlled'' and require Ontario Environment Ministry permits.

But that isn't sitting well with residents who live near to these sites, all of which are to be operational by the weekend.

City spokesperson Kevin Sack refused this morning to release the locations.

"Where people see obvious signs (of fencing), those are probably the locations,'' he said.

Among the areas fencing has been spotted are three waterfront parking lots near Sunnyside pool at the western beaches, Etienne Brule park near the Humber River, a skating rink at Christie Pits park, near Christie and Bloor St. W. and George Bell arena near Runnymede Rd. and St. Clair Ave. W.

Green 13, a volunteer community organization, is urging the city not to use Sunnyside.

"While respecting the difficult choices facing the city, designating a public park - on our waterfront no less - should absolutely not be one of them,'' the group said in a statement.

"At a time of great economic uncertainty, with many city services currently unavailable, we need our great public parks more than ever", said Christopher Holcroft, chair of Green 13.

The dump poses "unknown environmental risks to the surrounding parkland and lake and it undermines the very idea of shared public spaces,'' the group said.

A better choice would be a city-owned parking lot that is removed from the waterfront andparks, the group says.

This week the city's deputy mayor Joe Pantalone argued that Christie Pits should also be a "no-go zone'' for a temporary dump because it is heavily used by residents.

Early today Pantalone said he was still trying to win the park, which is in his ward, a last-minute reprieve.

Christie Pits as used as a temporary dump during the city workers' strike of 2002. A group known as the Friends of Christie Pits has been fighting to have the park spared this time, apparently to no avail.

The group was planning to meet at the park at 11 a.m. today to voice their concerns.