A Port Alberni businessman says the city's Quay to Quay pathway has cost him thousands of dollars, and his complaints to the city have gone unanswered.
Wade Nicklin owns Nicklin Waste Disposal, whose legal address is on Victoria Quay but borders what is marked on a city map as Pemberton Road. He bought the pie-shaped building and attached lot in 2008 and has been doing business there for 16 years. Because the entrance to his business is on the Pemberton side of the building, Nicklin's clients and employees would park in a gravel lot along a creek that empties into the Somass River. Nicklin also has a chainlink fence and gate on the same side where his garbage trucks would enter his lot.
Several months ago, cement barriers appeared that blocked the parking area and limited access to the gate. Nicklin said he was not given any notice that the barriers would be placed. He also was not told exactly where the Quay to Quay Pathway was going to be placed nor how it would affect his business, even after surveyors showed up.
Nicklin was forced to use another entrance on Margaret Street for his garbage trucks, which he says is a busy road. He created some parking spots for employees, who now have to park on Margaret Street. He leased property elsewhere to store commercial bins and has built a visual barrier with cement blocks facing that street.
"Nobody's ever come and talked to me," he said in April. "I got a letter from (the city) asking me to move my bins off the property. That was two years ago."
Nicklin has been vocal in his opposition to the multi-modal pathway, saying the city shouldn't have spent the millions of dollars that it has on the trail. "We have tonnes of trails that the city doesn't look after anyway," he said.
He went so far as to paint 'No Trail' on the side of his building and was ordered to remove it.
Nicklin said he maintained the right of way beside his building for more than a decade, and even put down gravel in the area where people used to park. He deserved the chance to give his input, he added. "It would have been nice to have some say in (the trail's placement)."
Contractors have now installed light standards and paved the Quay to Quay Pathway in front of Nicklin's business.
