A family-run business in Dartmouth took their concerns over a newly erected fence near their property to social media last week, which led to a flurry of public opinions being swapped online over who’s right, and who’s wrong.
“He shot the first gun by sticking that fence in my face,” said Barry Banfield, owner of Banfield Electric & Contracting Limited and Banfield Ocular Prosthetic.
Banfield runs the two businesses out of his Main Street, Dartmouth property. His son-in-law, Craig, made the post about the new fence which garnered more than 2,000 shares and hundreds of comments over the weekend.
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The business next door is Gateway Meat Market, a growing grocery store that Banfield says he’s never had previous issues with.
“We have co-existed peacefully and have been supportive of one another’s businesses for the last nine years,” said Tamara McKay, Gateway’s co-owner.
During the past few years, both owners say they’ve done their best to make the properties close in proximity work for one another, but Banfield says the new fence on Gateway’s property is having a negative impact on his operations.
“We have to change our garbage structure because we can no longer get a garbage truck in the back parking lot to empty the garbage, and we’ve had to relocate our bucket truck because there’s barely enough room to get a half-ton truck in there,” he said Monday.
McKay says they added the fence to give staff a place to gather for everything from smoke breaks to barbecues, as well as to accommodate a second emergency exit, which was requested by the city as a result of their expansion.
“The fence will be providing security to our outdoor staff area as well as our new compressors that were needed for the expansion,” she said.
Banfield says his neighbors tried to buy his property before, but low-balled him, so he denied the offer. He believes the fence is their way of trying to push him out, saying it’s now extremely challenging for customers with eye impairments to access the back parking lot.
“What they’re doing is legally correct, but it’s not morally correct, and I think anybody who pulled into this driveway would think the same thing,” he said.
McKay says erecting the fence has nothing to do with the property not being sold to them.
“We do not need their property to conduct our business, we simply need to use our space to it’s fullest extent,” she said.
Both parties say they hope to work together to resolve the issue.