A local business says weight restrictions on Arthur Street would mean job losses in the area.
City council received a for-information only report Monday night that outlined options for eliminating logging and pulp truck traffic, which administration says has increased over the past six years, from Arthur Street east of 25th Sideroad.
The report says a 38,000 kilogram restriction would prohibit long trucks only. But the bylaw would be tough to enforce and Oliver Paipoonge and the Ministry of Transportation have said the city wouldn't be allowed to post notice signs on the lands they control.
Administration is recommending the city instead develop a designated truck route when it considers its transportation master plan next year.
Santorelli's Truck Stop wanted to make sure though that the city knows how devastating a weight restriction could be to the estimated 40 businesses and 700 employees in the area.
"Any weight restriction is going to have a chilling effect," Santorelli's lawyer Daniel Matson said.
Comptroller Lorne Kellar said while it's an unknown number right now, the business would have to lay people off. If any part of Arthur Street had restrictions, truckers would use other routes altogether.
Mayor Keith Hobbs said he's not in favour of the weight restriction but wondered about a speed reduction on the road. Kellar said that likely wouldn't impact his business but could be a safety issue.
"That's a busy corridor and the traffic wants to move," Kellar said.
Since the city has allowed weight restriction signs for traffic moving into Oliver Paipoonge in the past, Coun. Iain Angus took issue with the neighbouring municipality refusing the same for the city.
“Obviously Oliver Paipoonge did not take that into consideration when they considered our request,” he said.
Coun. Trevor Giertuga wanted to know about the city's compression brake bylaw, which has been on the books since 1995. Thunder Bay police chief J.P. Levesque said the bylaw is difficult to enforce because an expert would need to be brought in every time a charge was laid in order to try and get a conviction.
"In our mind it’s not completely unenforceable but to get an expert to come to court every time you lay a charge would be quite burdensome,” Levesque said.
Giertuga said he gets calls from Dawson Road constituents all the time that the brakes are still being used and he can't help them.
"There's no point in having a bylaw that’s unenforceable and people can basically break,” he said.
