(Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Struggling Businesses

P.A. council approves adding median opening on 15th Street to help blocked off businesses

Sep 27, 2021 | 9:23 PM

Several Prince Albert businesses are hoping to see a big rise in customers soon.

The city’s council met on Monday and approved creating a median opening along 15th Street East between 4th and 5th avenue.

Work to widen Prince Albert’s busiest street over the past two months also included a median without any direct turn options for drivers to access the south side of the road.

“We can’t block off like nine local businesses from access to traffic,” said Chad Mogg, co-owner and o-operator of Dr. Java’s Coffee House.

His family business was one of several that highlighted a sizable drop in revenue since construction on 15th Street started.

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In the coffee shop’s case, they saw a decrease of around 35 per cent in sales from when traffic was directed to the opposite side of the road during construction.

Diane Lavoie, the owner of Our Little Secret Boutique, claims she’s had many customers call the business directly for directions.

“Some customers literally gave up, due to it being too confusing to get here. I know this because they have called the store back and said they could not get here,” Lavoie said.

Discussions have been ongoing since work started two months ago.

P.A. Councillor Blake Edwards says they failed these businesses by taking so long to provide them a solution.

“If we take business away from any businesses… that’s not good. Our business community needs everything possible.”

His comment was echoed by fellow Councillor Dennis Ogrodnick who stated during Monday’s meeting they needed to ‘make it right.’

Mayor Greg Dionne and Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp each voted against the median opening citing safety concerns.

“Especially once we get the lines in and people know what lane they’re in, they’ll pick up more speed,” Dionne said.

The opening is estimated to cost around $90,000.

There’s currently no exact timeline on when construction will start, however, the expectation is for it to be finished this year.

Brandy Mogg, co-owner and co-operator of Dr. Java’s Coffee House, said the damage to their business if they must wait until spring may be too hard to overcome.

“The relief will officially come once I see it done before snow flies, it’s been an incredibly stressful couple of months.”

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow