Huntsville’s Canadian Tire is growing.
The company has plans to expand its floor space from 6,100 square metres to a maximum of up to 8,100 sq m. It plans to demolish its existing garden centre, add 900 sq m to its floor space and build a brand new garden centre where its gas bar currently sits.
Huntsville’s Planning Committee heard at its April 11 meeting that the gas bar will be moved across the street on lands situated between Comfort Inn and Huntsville Place Mall. Lanny Dennis, Planning Consultant representing Huntsville Mall Inc. and King William Holdings Inc., was also at the meeting seeking approval to reconfigure the vacant lands beside the mall in order to facilitate a drive-thru restaurant and the relocation of the Canadian Tire gas bar on separate parcels.
“Each proposed use will then have its own lot,” Dennis told committee. “So basically all we’re doing is reallocating the existing lot lines to ensure that all structures do not encroach [on each other],” he added.
Committee also heard that Canadian Tire was seeking relief from the required 286 parking stalls associated with its expansion down to 239 spaces. To support the reduction the applicant provided a parking study. That study, according to Huntsville Senior Planner Elizabeth Reimer, concluded that during peak times as well as third party use such as the Farmers’ Market, the site would still operate at a minor surplus in parking spaces
In her report to committee Reimer also noted that as part of the proposal, “the existing stormwater management pond will be expanded into a portion of the parking lot, as well as additional alternative stormwater measures provided.”
A letter in favour of the application was submitted by Effort Trust, managers of the Huntsville Place Mall on behalf of its owners. Along with its support for the application, the letter also referenced the need for proper storm water management. “There has been a longstanding matter of the headwater located on the Canadian Tire lands which directly affects the control of flood waters on our property as well as others in the area. We have been waiting for a resolution to the problem and have been advised that there is a solution being proposed. We would respectfully request that the matter of the headwater be addressed and attended to as part of the Council’s and Committee’s deliberation on the application,” it concluded.
Committee concurred with staff’s recommendation and approved the zoning amendment for Canadian Tire’s expansion as well as two consent applications to reconfigure the lands next to Huntsville Place Mall.
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Let’s also discuss the most ridiculous and dangerous intersection at peak in Huntsville,: the three-wayer at Independent Grocer/Walmart, disaster waiting to happen. With all due respect, Huntsville is a very difficult town to manage re stop lights but I think Planning should re-assess present locations as referred to by Brian.
I think they should move one of the extra stoplights to the 4 way stop which is a laughable situation one center street north. If you want to know what I’m talking about go sit and watch for a while there it’s very unsafe I think.
I don’t have much a comment other than it’s a great spot and had to happen? Good
Luck and am taking chance on finding out where I can semd my Resume? Please remember people will always voice their pros and cons no matter what changes occur. It’s what makes
Us people.
Very good idea, Brian! It should aid with the flow of traffic and make it safer for pedestrians and motorists alike!
Great idea!
Now can we maybe fix the silly stop lights along this road too?
I’m told this is the busiest piece of roadway in all of Muskoka so I have to ask why we have 4 stoplights, all of which are sort of “lame ducks” in that they are not located where there is an actual proper cross street that gets any use.
As you head into town from Hwy. 60 the first light you come to handles Canada Tire and the Staples/Liquor store area ok but it is kind of silly to have just the hotel and salvation army on the other side and that side’s approach to the light is abysmally designed.
Continuing toward downtown, at the top of the hill there is another light that does very little on one side and serves the mall on the other.
Better to get rid of both of these lights and have one bigger set up, near where the current (UN-stoplighted) entry to the mall is. This has better sight lines, can access both sides of the road if things were adjusted a bit, has room for turning lanes and traffic accumulation. Much better spot.
Closer still to downtown we have a light for MacDonalds. On the other side, a residential area with little traffic and this intersection has that interesting sort of cut off that few people understand on the car dealership side.
The next light toward town serves Chafey st. on one side (good) and a dead end Fairy Ave. on the other.
If these could somehow be combined into one light for the area it would make things flow better too.
Alternately, maybe find another way past this area, something a little closer and easier than going up and past Home Depot on Hanes and then down on Centre street.
Just a thought. Hey it could be called “Planning” even and with the proposed revitalization of the Beer lake area traffic here is only going to get worse, much worse in the future.
Someday, after they close the Mountain View sewage plant, (AD 2486 maybe?) we will probably see another bridge over the river near the Summit Centre arena. This will allow the Brunel intersection to be simplified and optimized for downtown traffic. We should plan for where this bridge might go now so we don’t build a lot of stuff in the way.
Food for thought, maybe, but let’s get the hospital fixed up first.
Firstly, I’m not quite sure how Ms. Reimer came to the conclusion that the Canadian Tire parking lot could support both the Farmers’ Market AND the Canadian Tire customers; WITH a 47-space shortfall AND some spaces unusable as they are collecting stormwater to bleed into the outfall. President Reagan had his voodoo economics; and trust me, there were some voodoo calculations involved in this effort. At present, under Farmers’ Market conditions, not only are all the spaces occupied; but it is an accident waiting to happen for all the pedestrians.
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Kudos to Mr. Perry for his suggestion to relocate the Market to the Staples’ lot. I feel that the Canadian Tire lot will still be chock-a-block full on weekends; but it’s a step in the right direction.
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How much money does the Town garner for the 47 spaces? And do those monies provide green-space somewhere else in town? It would be a shame for them to end up in general levies. It was also fascinating for me to read that Mr. Dennis said that: “all we’re doing is reallocating (relocating) the existing lot lines”. Has any private citizen attempted such a procedure? Apparently, it may be done quite blithely to satisfy commercial concerns, but individuals need not apply. The propane company located my tank approx. 600 mm. on my neighbour’s property, and they expect compensation to move it; even though my neighbour would accept a minimal shift in the lot line.
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Finally, there is insufficient space in the lots adjacent to the Huntsville Place Mall to support the serving line for a drive-through restaurant; much less to shoehorn a self-serve gas bar into the equation. Of course, they haven’t submitted a site plan for this impending disaster as yet. They feel that if Council commits to Phase I, that they are somehow committed to Phase II. If they do present a site plan at some time in the future, even Ms. Reimer won’t be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together.
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And a side note to Ms. de la Vega: I was so happy initially to see you use “square metres” (because 90% of the populace misspells “metres”); but then you reverted to sq. m. (which is unacceptable). The only acceptable abbreviation is “m” with a superscript “2”.
Having the farmers’ market in the area is a good thing. Hopefully, there will be no conflict there. Wondering two things: where is the stormwater management pond mentioned? Doesn’t seem to be visible on the CDN Tire property. Certainly an excellent thing to prevent parking lot runoff from going directly into the lake. How disruptive will the construction be for the farmers’ market? Last year (or was it 2016?) the market was forced to close at the last minute just before Thanksgiving weekend as the paving company moved in pdq. An unnecessary disaster for the vendors and the customers? Everyone wondered why the market wasn’t just moved onto the Staples/LCBO lot for that day. Since that lot is huge, and rarely full, it would seem to have been the neighbourly thing to do.
Oh, and I’ve heard a rumour that it’s to be a Starbucks, not Tim Hortons drive through. 🙂
Maybe move the farmers market across the street into staples and liquor store parking lot.It has a larger area that would be better suited for the congestion it causes where it is now ,especially during the summer months
This could work as long as it doesn’t interfere with the farmers market.
Bill, vacant lands beside the mall. A site plan has not yet been submitted. I believe the drive-thru restaurant will be at 82 King William and the gas bar at 84, but lots 80-84 are being reconfigured.
Tamara : Proposed outline of where new gas bar and drive through restaurant (franchise ? ) are to be built would be helpful !