Municipal officials are responding to complaints about the impact constructing in downtown Chatham is having on small businesses.
Crews are working on installing new light fixtures along King Street West, blocking one lane of traffic through the downtown core.
A number of business people in the area have expressed frustration, saying the timing of the project couldn’t be worse.
Mark Giles, manager of Frank’s Music Centre, says the work has caused a great deal of difficulty for customers wanting to come into the store, and makes large deliveries virtually impossible.
However, Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire says despite the challenges, the work shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
“The team that was responsible for scheduling the work did have consultation with business owners along King Street,” Shropshire says. “We recognize that there’s some frustration, the combination of having the one bridge out, rerouting some of the traffic, we’ve also had the extra demands of COVID.”
He says there’s a limited window to get projects like this done.
“Thomas Kelly and the engineering staff have taken that one back, they’re discussing it with Entegrus who’s been contracted to do the work, and we’re seeing what we can do to address some of the concerns,” Shropshire explains. “It’s a balancing act, and I can’t sit here today and tell you we’ve got a solution.”
Shropshire says it’s going to be hard to make everyone happy, and while some business owners want the project stopped or delayed, others have encouraged the municipality to just push ahead and get the work done as quickly as possible.