Ken Grann first heard about the four-laning of Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon in 1988.
He, his father and a Ministry of Transportation official met to discuss the project 23 years ago behind their family business, the Pass Lake Corner Service. At the time he had some doubt it would even happen.
But this coming Wednesday, he has a meeting with the MTO about a possible buyout of his property as it lies in the path of the planned four-lane highway.
“We knew it was coming; we just didn’t figure it was coming this quick, so he we are,” said Grann Friday morning.
Pass Lake Corner Service is a grocery store and gas bar, as well as an automotive shop and houses an LCBO. Grann said his father started the business in 1958 when they first moved to the area.
“I think I was two months old,” he said. “There’s a lot of history here and we’re going to be uprooted and gone. It’s going to be a change.”
Grann’s customers have been asking him what he’ll be doing, where he’ll be going once the business closes its doors and he says it’s still up in the air. But one thing is for sure, he won’t be re-opening in a new location.
“Because of the price of land these days and the price of putting up a building and unfortunately, the age I am, it wouldn’t be the thing to do. I would never get any of my money back from what I put into the business again,” he said.
Also feeling the uncertainty the new highway will bring is John D’Angelo, manager of Crystal Beach Variety.
While D’Angelo’s business won’t have to move, the new highway will bypass his business and he’ll lose a large amount of the business he receives now.
“Nobody’s sure how it’s going to impact the business along this corridor. We’re still going to have the people coming off the beach, the campers that come out on the weekends,” he said, adding it’s the travelling public they’ll lose.
Crystal Beach Variety will continue to operate as long as things go well. However, D’Angelo is concerned about the uncertainty of the future.
Regional director of the MTO Ian Smith said he couldn’t comment on any individual property acquisitions they make out of respect for the privacy of the landowners, but the MTO will be negotiating with individuals along the corridor to obtain property where they need to.
Access to the new highway will vary with there being no direct access to the brand new alignment portion between McKenzie and Birch Beach.
“Access will be gained through the interchanges we’re providing along that route,” Smith said.
For sections of the highway where additional lanes are being placed on the existing alignment, access points on the north side of the highway, like at the Pass Lake Truck Stop, will remain in place.
