Construction in downtown Chatham has some small businesses owners at their wit’s end.
Crews are working on installing new street light poles in the downtown core over the next month, closing off sections of King Street West a few blocks at a time.
However, Mark Giles, manager of Frank’s Music Centre, says they only heard about the project once work was already underway Monday morning.
“(I) showed up Monday morning , I was excited to get to work especially knowing this Friday re-opening was coming, and I felt like a kid on Christmas morning receiving a big lump of coal,” Giles says. “I checked out emails five times, no notice was ever sent, no questions or discussions took place whatsoever. The Downtown BIA sent out a notice around noon Monday, 6 hours after the project had begun.”
He says it’s caused a great deal of difficulty for customers wanting to come into the store, and makes large deliveries virtually impossible.
“We can have up to 10 delivery trucks visit on a busy day as well as tractor trailers, what we sell can sometimes be very big and heavy items, we do not have a back loading zone, there is a loading zone across the road that they say will be left open, but it is illegally parked in 9/10 times you look,” he says. “If I don’t get my parcels then I cannot fill my orders, then we cannot survive.”
Giles is asking the municipality to put the light replacement project on hold for now to allow small business owners a chance to recoup their losses from the pandemic before causing more hardship.
“If nothing at all is done I will be taking my first vacation in over 10 years to organize a protest in demand for a public apology and accountability.”
