The provincial government and the Town of Deer Lake are at loggerheads over access to a new health care facility with words like “childish” and “expropriation” being bandied about.
Transportation Minister Barry Petten accuses the town of blocking off access to the health centre, which is not yet providing medical services.
At the heart of the dispute is insistence by the town that traffic from the TCH be permitted to access the centre and interconnecting roads via a left turn from the highway.
(via Brett Langdon-Deer Lake Facebook)
Minister Petten says that is too dangerous.
“It’s so they can get a supermarket, hotel, McDonald’s, along with the health centre via a left-hand turn off the Trans Canada – just think of that from a safety perspective,” says Minister Petten.
The province has moved in and barricaded Bennett Avenue, one of the access points – not a good move, says Mayor Dean Ball.
“The province wants us to use one way in and one way out but we want two ways in and out, which exist today. The two entrances and exits are there today, making it a very safe access but the province won’t permit us to do that,” says Mayor Ball.
Minister Petten says government has offered another alternative, but that did not fly with Mayor Ball, either.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Barry Petten (VOCM News)
“That access that’s there goes into a town road, and we would also provide another access, and we would actually do the access from the town road as a goodwill offering, so we would share the cost but, for some reason, they wouldn’t accept that,” says the minister.
The mayor says maybe government does not want to see the town grow with new commercial and retail development in that area.
He believes the minister is badly overstating the danger of the left turn from the TCH into the health facility.
“The 600-metres they’re talking about on the TCH? In the last 12 years, there has been an average of 2.48 accidents per year – none with injuries or fatalities, and all deemed fender-benders,” says the mayor.
Mayor Ball believes that if the two put their heads together, an agreement can be hammered out very quickly.
