Business owners in a northeast industrial park want the City to smooth things over with them and permanently address an unpaved road that’s littered with potholes and uneven surfaces.
Pacific Road, located in the Greenview Industrial Park - southwest of the McKnight Boulevard/Deerfoot Trail interchange, remains a dirt road to the disappointment of businesses in the area. City road crews stop by every few months to grade the road and lay gravel but the ongoing dust issues are especially problematic for vehicle painting shops.
“The road is so bad. Who wants to drive a brand new Mercedes on something like this?” asked Simon Deo, who has owned and operated ACR Paint and Auto Body for the last 21 years. “I’ve lost a lot of business.”
The road serves as the main access route to roughly two dozen businesses and owners believe their tax dollars should be used to pave the road once and for all.
Bryan Laycock, the owner of Glass-Tech Entrance Systems Ltd., has been in business on Pacific Road since 1999 and he says the drive to his shop is ‘like going down a country road somewhere’.
Laycock says Pacific Road is well-used and larger vehicles, including school buses and dump trucks, continue to take a toll on the road especially following rain or snow . He says the condition of the road has slightly improved over the last 20 years and he’s spent a significant amount of time over those 20 years attempting to convince the City to pave the street. “Since the day I bought the building, we have talked to the City. We’ve gone through three different councilmen in this district and their hands are pretty tied.”
Laycock adds that he struggles to comprehend how the City can charge him the same amount of taxes as other businesses in the area that are situated on paved roads.
Ward 4 councillor Sean Chu agrees that is time to fix Pacific Road. “I call it the ‘Kidney Shaker’ because every time you drive on it, there’s so many potholes,” said Chu. “The City continuously fixes it and continues to fix it every year, maybe a few times a year. All that money put together, I think we can be able to pave the road.”
According to Laycock, the City has previously encouraged business owners on Pacific Road to collectively cover the cost of paving the road.
With files from CTV’s Jordan Kanygin
