Town wants developers to solve potential traffic issues
Jun 20, 2009 - 04:30 AM
By Parvaneh Pessian
WHITBY -- Expansion plans are in store for one of the town's key retail locations but traffic complications must be sorted out first.
Owners of the Wal-Mart store, 4100 Baldwin St. S. in Whitby, are looking to convert the location to a superstore format, which will require renovations to the exterior portion of the building.
The 4,107-square-metre expansion is being proposed on the area used for the McDonald's restaurant and the adjacent vacant land to the north.
"What we are trying to achieve here is to bring in a new format of Wal-Mart stores in Ontario, which we have done in a variety of different locations in the province already," said Ornella Richichi, from SmartCentres, on behalf of the applicant, Calloway Reit Inc.
"This will offer a broader range of grocery products, deli, bakery, fresh produce, frozen and dry goods (and) it also improves the interior layout of the store with broader aisles and a broader range of merchandise."
As part of the development plans, the existing parking area will be modified to improve traffic circulation but the total number of spaces provided will be fewer than the minimum zoning requirements for the expanded structure. The applicant has applied for council to allow the reduction of the total number of required spaces from 1,479 to 1,275, resulting in about 200 fewer spaces.
Mayor Pat Perkins raised a flag on existing traffic problems at the opposite end of the same plaza that exist due to unclear site lines. Buildings are too close to the drive lane and there's no clear distinction in the flow of traffic coming from different directions, she said.
"You can say that there's a stop sign that's after the building but the nose of the car has to be safe and if there's not enough space between that stop sign and the traffic that's going another direction, then it's not safe."
The mayor urged the developers to have their traffic consultant look further into potential problems before any additions are made.
Coun. Joe Drumm inquired about the size of the store after the expansion is completed to surmise what the impact will be on the already "overabundance of grocery stores" currently in town.
At about 180,000 square feet, the updated store will be smaller than the Wal-Mart Supercentre south of Stevenson Road in Oshawa, which is about 220,000 square feet, Ms. Richichi said.
The matter will be voted on at the next council meeting, scheduled for Monday, June 29.
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