Politics source of chaos, says developer
Back entrances, inconsistencies along Old Airport Road need to be studied

by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (June 13/97) - Remedial measures taken by Old Airport Road businesses have gone a long way toward reducing the parking lot chaos that one developer blames on the city bowing to pressure from developers.

Ray Decorby of Polar Developments, which developed the Extra Foods property at the end of a four-hectare strip of shops, said much of the traffic trouble was the result of a lack of consistency by the city when approving the developments.

"We believe city officials bent to pressure from developers for rear entrances for those two properties," said Decorby, referring to two back entrances to the parking lot from Ward Crescent.

The crescent runs behind the strip that includes Wal-Mart, Mark's Work Wearhouse, Tim Hortons and Extra Foods.

One of the back entrances, known as "back doors," has since been closed. The one that remains open offers drivers a shortcut from the residential area behind the mall to Old Airport Road.

The shortcut is also a way of avoiding lights at the intersections at either end of the mall.

Decorby said back in 1991, when he was negotiating a development permit for the Extra Foods property, he asked for back doors for increased traffic flow to the businesses on his property.

According to Decorby, senior planner Dennis Peck turned down the request, saying it would create an unsafe situation in the parking lot. Decorby later came to agree with Peck's assessment.

But when adjacent properties were developed, back doors were permitted, leading to the problems that exist today.

Local businesses have since taken measures to reduce the safety risk. Concrete barriers between Tim Hortons and Petro-Canada have slowed and diverted traffic that used to present a danger to gas station attendants and customers, said gas station manager Mike Dove.

The gas station set up the barriers two months ago to reduce the danger from cars cutting through the station, located between Tim Hortons and Wal-Mart.

The measure was the third taken by area businesses since the development was approved in 1991.

Decorby moved a line of boulders between Tim Hortons and his property, and Wal-Mart erected a post-and-cable barrier midway between a parking lot exit onto Old Airport Road and an entry from Ward Avenue.

"We also believe the area could be orderly, if the rear entrances were closed and developers, with the guidance of the city, co-ordinated the traffic on the property," Decorby said.

But the city maintains it has no authority to regulate traffic in the parking lot, since it is private property.

Mayor Dave Lovell said the city has offered to help mitigate the problem, but said the property owners expressed no interest in doing so.