Amherstburg council will hear public feedback Monday on a proposal that could bring new amenities to one of the town’s busiest intersections. The application seeks amendments to the town’s official plan and zoning bylaw for approximately 0.53 hectares of land at the southeast corner of Sandwich Street South and Alma Street, where the developer is proposing an automobile service station, convenience store, and drive-thru restaurant. While the proposed tenant has not been officially identified, Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb said the developer’s planning justification report references the Tim Hortons trademark several times. “At our special council meeting we’ll be talking about a request to rezone this property so that, I believe the developer, what’s come through in their request is a gas station, a convenience store, and a drive thru store,” Gibb told CTV News. “We don’t know exactly what the drive thru is going to be until the sign goes up on the building. But in the developer’s planning justification report, it does mention Tim Hortons registered trademark three times.” Gibb said the proposal has the potential to bring additional traffic to the intersection and expects council and residents will closely examine the traffic impacts. “As our town grows there’s obvious traffic. This is going to bring a lot more traffic to a major intersection,” he said. “I’m sure there’s going to be concerns. I have concerns, I’m sure the rest of council is going to have concerns to discuss that and resident concerns. So, we’ll have to see what the planning report, the traffic studies tell us of how we’re going to mitigate the extra traffic from causing a bottleneck at this corner.” According to Gibb, the preliminary site layout includes a right-turn-only exit onto Sandwich Street South and places the drive-thru lane well inside the property, saying that will aid the flow of traffic. “From the diagram, the drive through is quite deep into the property. So that’s always a concern that cars are queued up on the road causing traffic disruption. So we’ll have to see what the developer is planning, if it fits for Amherstburg and if it fits for this corner,” said Gibb. Gibb emphasized Monday’s meeting is a statutory public meeting under the Planning Act, meaning council will not make a final decision on the application. “It’s just [where] questions are asked. And then staff will take those questions back and work with the developer to mitigate any irritants,” he said. “If the traffic study doesn’t convince council, then they may have to go back and tweak it.” The property has remained vacant since a fire destroyed the previous building about three years ago. “This has always been a commercial property. It’s just this is going to be a significant extra flow of traffic,” Gibb said. He added that while another coffee shop could help reduce congestion at Amherstburg’s existing Tim Hortons location, council must balance economic development with traffic safety. “We don’t want another intersection that’s busy and crowded, but we also don’t want a vacant building that could be put to more productive use.” Planning staff say comments received during the public meeting will be reviewed before a future report is brought back to council with a recommendation on the requested planning amendments.
