Council has concerns about potentially dangerous left turns near the Seventh Avenue and Cedar Valley Connector intersection, where a temporary commercial use permit is being considered at the site of Mission’s old courthouse.
According to district statistics, there have been more than 160 vehicular collisions there in the past five years.
Municipal engineering staff have made safety recommendations, including a concrete median on Seventh Avenue to block westbound left turns into the gas station, which Suncor Energy, representing the Petro Canada across the street, strongly opposes.
Suncor claimed through a letter to council that the installation of a similar median on Cedar Street has resulted in a negative impact to business.
Several councillors expressed worry over traffic being able to safely turn into the property, with some suggesting access from Cedar Connector be blocked off entirely.
“This intersection is almost as bad as Nelson [Street] and Lougheed [Highway],” said Mayor James Atebe.
The applicant’s traffic engineer has responded to the district’s traffic impact study by amending the proposal to allow for a right-in only entry from the connector.
“It would have been helpful for CTS (Creative Transportation Solutions) to have known about the 168 reported collisions since the year 2006 along the Seventh Avenue corridor between Eider Street and Juniper Street prior to the undertaking of the traffic impact study,” reads the engineer’s report.
“Had we known this we could have at least taken that into consideration when developing our recommendations for the site access.”
It went on to say that “negligible” impact to traffic volumes are anticipated, and recommended the use of an existing alley to mitigate any collision dangers.
Council voted to send the proposal to a public hearing, scheduled for Aug. 22, with Coun. Terry Gidda opposed.
The permit application is for a multi-tenant commercial complex within the old courthouse involving eateries, and personal and professional services.