CALGARY- A northeast community is furious, after a controversial permit to build a fast-food restaurant across the street from a high school was approved.
Without any public consultations being held, the city gave the go-ahead to a plan to build a McDonalds in the community of Pineridge—right across the street from Lester B. Pearson High School.
Even the area’s councillor was blindsided. Ray Jones says he was trying to find a parking spot in a newly fenced-off area at the Village Square Shopping Centre, when someone mentioned room was being made for a new McDonald’s drive thru.
“It’s in a busy mall and you are going to eliminate 150 to 200 parking stalls and do what, put in a drive-thru which is going to back up traffic onto 26th Avenue and onto 52nd Street?” he fumes. “I just can’t believe there was no input from anybody before this was approved.”
The president of the Pineridge Community Association agrees that it is not an idea setup.
“We are opposed to it for the reasons we have turned down anything that has come across our desk probably in the last 10 years, is that corner is already congested enough as it is,” explains Lori Withell. “With the bank, the mall being there and Pearson, it’s terrible down there trying to get in and out.”
The city planning department admits they made a mistake, but now that the permit has been granted it may be too late to do anything about it. Once approved, a legal argument is needed to withdraw it.
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