THUNDER BAY – City council will consider new rules Monday intended to prevent transport trucks from accessing the County Fair Plaza.
Residents in the area have raised concerns over the growing use of parking lot space behind the mall as a makeshift truck stop by long-haul drivers.
“This mall was made for residents to shop, and now we’re getting trucks parked overnight, running 24 hours a day, exchanging loads,” said Barry Kucher, who has lived in the area for decades.
“The diesel fumes at times is so bad we can’t keep our windows open. People in the area are just tired… We’re hoping city council will do something.”
Kucher is one of numerous residents who brought concerns to the city, including Coun. Albert Aiello, whose McIntyre Ward includes the mall.
“It’s affected residents to a degree where they really can’t enjoy the outside in the summer time,” Aiello agrees. “The smell of diesel fuel, the noise, the garbage that’s left by these truckers has really made it unbearable for them."
In June, Aiello drove a successful call for new rules prohibiting heavy traffic on side streets used to access the parking lot.
A report from the city’s engineering department that will be debated by council Monday proposes amending a bylaw to add weight limits on both East Avenue and Market Street.
If approved, the rules would bar vehicles with a registered weight over 10,000 kilograms from operating on East Avenue from Dawson Road to County Boulevard, and Market Street from East Avenue to Wardrope Avenue.
The bylaw would be enforced by Thunder Bay police, with fines issued under the Highway Traffic Act.
Trucks accessing the mall for legitimate purposes like deliveries would be exempt.
Kucher said he understands the pressures that lead truckers to use the spot, saying there’s a need for more truck stops in the area, with the nearest Santorelli’s on Arthur Street West.
“I sympathize with the truckers – they need someplace to stay,” he said. “We need a truck stop somewhere, but not in a residential area like this.”
Aiello said it will be important to create fines “that have some oomph to them” to deter truckers from staying overnight.
Enforcement will be the real key, however, he said.
The city’s licensing and enforcement division is working to create additional offences for owners of heavy vehicles parking without authority on private lands, something it currently can’t do.
The city is also in discussions with County Fair owners Goldmanco Inc. to establish a long-term plan for enforcement that would enable the business to assist in ticketing, staff reported. The Toronto-based company declined a request to comment for this story.
Licensing and enforcement manager Doug Vincent previously suggested the city could also boost fines for the offence from $35 to a range of $500 to $700.
The report from engineering warns the weight restrictions will alleviate the problem “to some degree,” but is unlikely to solve it, since drivers could still attempt to use the more narrow main entrance at Strand Avenue, off Dawson Road.
“This entrance [has] a tight turning radius… which will dissuade some transport drivers, however it is navigable and staff have documented transports utilizing this entrance,” the report reads. “For this reason, administration believes that additional measures would be required.”
Those include the ability to ticket on private property, and the implementation of a Designated Truck Route that would route traffic away from Dawson Road to the Highway 11/17 extension.
The DTR remains in limbo, with city council deadlocked over the issue. Aiello expects council to hold renewed discussion in the coming months, however.
Aiello was more optimistic, saying it’s unlikely a significant number of transports will attempt to use the Strand Avenue entrance.
“That’s always been an opportunity,” he said. “It doesn’t happen very often, because they get stuck… You may see it sometimes late in the evening, but not during the day – it’s too tight of a turn.”
However, he agreed the DTR is clearly the long-term solution. As well as addressing safety concerns, he said it would help alleviate the heavy toll transports take on the local road system.
“In a perfect world, we’d have a Designated Truck Route and we wouldn’t have these issues,” he said.
