The Hillcrest Golf Course might be difficult to reach coming off Main Street North, but city council has no plans to construct a new access road to it anytime soon.
During the May 9 regular council meeting, Mayor Clive Tolley introduced a motion to have city administration investigate the possibility of creating an access road linking 1500 Main Street North to the Golden Ticket Sports Centre parking lot and the existing service road that connects to Thatcher Drive.
“If you go up Main Street North and you look to the right at the Hillcrest Golf Course, many people are driving through the ditch on the way to the Hillcrest Golf Course parking lot or using the Golden Ticket facilities or other facilities at the Hillcrest Sports Centre building,” Tolley said.
“Since we blocked off a left-hand turn off of Thatcher going into the service road that serves the new Co-op pharmacy and dental office, we’ve limited the ways to get in and out of that facility,” he said, adding city hall should see if it makes sense to create a new access road so people can use Main Street North to access and leave the sports venue.
The changes that happened on Thatcher Drive East that affected the entrance to that small strip mall are complete, so this motion doesn’t change anything about that, said Coun. Heather Eby. Therefore, she thought that part of Tolley’s argument was “moot.”
“I suppose it would be interesting to see how much this would cost and what it would look like, but I don’t really foresee that it would be something I would support the cost of,” she continued. “If people are driving through the ditch, a better solution would be some fencing or bollards to stop people from driving through there.”
Eby added that with construction costs increasing, creating a new access road would “not be a cheap venture” and she didn’t think it was necessary.
The Co-op sent a letter expressing support for a new access road, considering it wants more access to its pharmacy on the service road and easier access for its customers, said Tolley.
Council then voted 5-1 against the motion; Tolley was in favour. Coun. Crystal Froese was absent.
The next regular council meeting is Tuesday, May 24.
