A recent city notice of planned road closures for paving and utility work has touched a nerve with a downtown business owner.
Last week, the City of Salmon Arm shared on its Facebook page a construction notice for upcoming utility upgrades and paving. The notice explained the work will begin mid-February and “require a one-day (Sunday) shut down of the intersection of Ross Street and Hudson Avenue.”
A utility upgrade will require a two-week continuous closure of Ross Street, between the existing parking lot entrance and Lakeshore Drive, from late February to early March.
“The construction area has been designated to ensure pedestrian access to businesses are not interrupted, and access to the Ross Street Parking Lot is maintained via a temporary sidewalk crossing,” reads the post.
Paving planned for early May, which includes the Ross Street parking lot, will require a five-day closure.
A section of Ross Street, from Highway 1 to Lakeshore; and Hudson Avenue from Ross Street to 4th Street; and at the west end of Hudson Street, from Lakeshore to Shuswap Street will be also be repaved.
“During the road paving process, temporary disruption to traffic and parking will occur,” said the city.
As of Friday, Feb. 2, Ed Parent said this Facebook post was the only notification he’d received about the upcoming work and related closures.
“We knew this was supposed to come down in October, and then they put it on the back-burner for whatever reasons, and then all of a sudden now it’s going to get done…,” said Parent, the owner of Ed’s World of Critters & Supplies. In response, Parent submitted a letter to the city, written on behalf of downtown businesses, raising concerns about the impacts the closures could have.
“We are very concerned about the two-week duration of the proposed closure of Ross Street for the utilities upgrades,” reads the letter. “We understand that such upgrades are necessary from time to time, but a two-week closure is going to be devastating to our already struggling businesses.”
One of Parent’s concerns is deliveries, how they will occur and the impacts on other downtown traffic.
“It’s already challenging for the bigger delivery trucks to access Ross Street, but where are they supposed to park during the two weeks to unload our products?” asked Parent, also questioning why the work couldn’t be done overnight.
In a Feb. 5 email to the Observer, Mayor Alan Harrison responded to concerns raised in Parent’s letter, which he said would be on the Feb. 12 council agenda.
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“City staff has reached out to Ed, heard his concerns and has provided more detailed information to him…,” said Harrison.
“The concern regarding deliveries to businesses is alleviated, as the intersection at Ross and Hudson will only be closed on one Sunday, so deliveries can still happen on their regular schedule. The concern regarding the impact of the 3 days of paving, will likely only be one day on the frontage.”
Harrison stressed the planned paving is badly needed, and is scheduled for early May, weather permitting.
“Paving generally happens quickly,” he said.
Regarding notification, Harrison said the construction notice was the “first reach-out to businesses and the public,” and once the construction schedule has been detailed by the successful contractor, this will be communicated to downtown businesses.
“These infrastructure upgrades to water, sewer and storm are essential,” said Harrison, sharing his appreciation to Parent for raising his concerns with the city.
“Council is very supportive of our downtown, and values each business that helps make Downtown Salmon Arm vibrant and unique,” said Harrison. “We encourage all residents to ‘Shop Local’ whenever possible.”
Parent indicated that will be part of his plan as upgrades are being done.
“I’m going to get signs made up – we’re open for business, we will deliver, go on our website and order and I will deliver to your home, that sort of thing,” said Parent. “I’m going to try and make a positive spin on it. That’s all we can do.”
