The following are open letters to the City of Revelstoke from the owners of the Monashee Lodge and the Days Inn relating to the construction of the roundabout at Victoria Road and Wright Street:
Mr. Dean Strachan,
We know we can’t stop progress, and discussions and planning meetings have happened over time, however, why is this city council approving situations that immediately affect local residents, businesses and obviously local traffic?
The gentleman from Speers Construction said to me, “Yeah, we’re going to close the intersection Monday and re-route traffic for blocks.”
I mentioned to him that may be a bad idea at this time of year for a number of reasons that a man of his stature should probably understand. He said, “Maybe we could re-route traffic around the back side of the Days Inn, maybe I can look into that.”
As a local construction company, I felt he should have done enough studies to realize the city just approved a new leaf sculpture in the middle of a vegetable and flower garden that provides food to the food bank. Re-routing traffic through there is probably not an alternative and in a best-case scenario is a very lousy idea. Good planning.
Maybe it was public knowledge this was going to occur but you’d think the city and local construction company would have the forethought (or at least the respect and professionality) to sit down with the local businesses you are gravely going to affect and discuss well in advance the ideas and plans.
Revelstoke is an awesome place to live and do business and what is happening may be for the good of all residents and businesses in the long run but this immensely affects us immediately. Timing is everything and yours stinks. I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s busy in these parts and as a small businesses, we deserve the right to run our businesses, uninterrupted, in the middle of the busy seasons.
We pay our taxes regularly, on time, and the same as other legitimate businesses who aren’t affected. Three quarters of my patrons (which we sent) are downtown right now listening to live free music that I pay taxes for. They’re spending money in restaurants and pubs enjoying what Revelstoke has to offer. You’re driving those people away from our businesses. Re-routing is best-case scenario, unless you are a local resident (especially with small children) who are going to see a substantial increase in traffic volume through their residential areas and in front of parks and pre-schools. How do you people sleep at night?
October/November is the time to proceed, not prime-time summer. Should business numbers drop, based on the last two year’s numbers, are we able to be compensated? Even if the answer is yes, who’s pockets is the money going to come out of?
I do not want to stop progress, I want progress to happen naturally with a well thought and planned out scheme that hurts the least amount of people. Your plan isn’t it.
Please reconsider immediately what you’re doing and thank you in advance.
Dean and Kathleen Lemon
Owners, Monashee Lodge, Revelstoke
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Dean Strachan,
On Friday we were visited by Speers Construction and given a notice that states Speers will be commencing a construction work at Victoria Road and Wright Street to build a roundabout on Aug. 15.
We are dismayed and very concerned about this decision that we understand the City of Revelstoke made. We were never asked about the timing of this construction nor given any notice beforehand, while Speers advised it will start work two days after giving notice.
Please note this construction may cause a lot disruption to our customers who will have trouble getting to us, and it will eventually lead to the loss of business for the Monashee lodge, Gateway Inn and ourselves — particularly in this busy period when we are filled with many walk-in customers.
For your information, business from July to September takes a substantially big portion of the yearly revenue of the motels in this city and therefore it is critical for us to do it in a right manner.
We do not understand why the City of Revelstoke gives us potential damage to our business, while we have been faithfully paying taxes to the city. It makes it really hard to understand the decision to do the construction at this time as we know the project has been being studied for the last year.
We request the city delay construction to sometime later when it would have no big impact on the motels’ business. We ask to do it not earlier than second half of September. It may seem to be short notice to stop it, but please be aware this is the earliest possible reaction by us as we were given the notice just Friday.
We trust you understand the importance of not affecting the existing business of the the motels who are all taxpayers in this city. We appreciate your understanding and subsequent adjustment of the construction time.
Regards,
Sam Cho
Owner, Days Inn & Suites, Revelstoke
