A bylaw amendment that was defeated last month to allow a second drive thru restaurant at the Turtle Bay Crossing complex has been brought back to life.
A motion to give third reading to the bylaw was rejected by council during its regular July 18 meeting. At the time Mayor James Baker said it would add too much traffic to the intersection on Oceola Road.
READ MORE: No more fast food drive-thrus at Turtle Bay Crossing
But, after Baker further reviewed the traffic report, he decided it deserved to come back to council.
“I reviewed the engineer’s report, and it after the public hearing so we can’t get any new information, but there’s seems to be some misconception on the part of council and the public, there’s only one letter that wasn’t encouraging it… our planning showed that there could be two drive thrus,” he said.
According to the engineering study, the drive thru would not impact traffic, he said.
An independent consultant conducted a traffic study to determine the impact the restaurant would have on traffic in the area, and the results said the impact was “negligible,” according to a report which was previously presented to council.
“I drive that intersection every day more than once… and it has worked very well, so I had reviewed the engineer’s report again and in my mind I can see turning down if it was going to be a real traffic impediment, not just because someone said they don’t want to see any more fast food in the community,” he said, referring to a letter that was received by council that was opposed to the drive thru.
Currently, a Starbucks has a drive thru in the complex.
A motion to reconsider the bylaw will be brought to council during Tuesday night’s regular meeting.
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