East St. Paul’s mayor said Thursday the big box development planned for the area is “basically nullified.”
His comments come after a municipal board meeting looking at road access for the development.
Hundreds of people attended the meeting Wednesday night, including North Kildonan councillor Jeff Browaty.
Browaty is discouraging development of the shopping centre near city limits.
“It's not a proper route to be having semi-trailers delivering stuff at all hours of the day and night to a large format retail centre,” said Browaty,
Browaty wants to cut off Raleigh and Gateway to stop access to the proposed development, which is yet to be approved.
East St. Paul mayor Lawrence Morris said the road cuts would be a hardship for some East St. Paul residents who would have to drive blocks out of the way to get home.
Other meeting attendees said they worry about the impact on safety.
“Ambulance, police, fire, that's all very important,” said East St. Paul Coun. Charles Posthumus. “You've got to have an extra 5 minutes. That could be a life."
Municipalities and others registered to testify will give their input at part two of the meeting Thursday night.
The board will then have 30 days to issue a decision.
