(Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Melfort Council

Melfort City Council votes to close south entrance to local hotel and bar

Jun 11, 2019 | 1:13 PM

The City of Melfort has voted to close an approach that leads into the parking lot of a local hotel and bar.

At the regular city council meeting on Monday, June 10, council voted unanimously to close the entrance to the Bluebird Inn and Drafties Bar on the corner of Saskatchewan Drive and Shadd Drive.

The decision was made after receiving the results of the traffic safety plan, which listed that spot as a main priority to fix due to the higher risk of crashes.

There was a large amount of pushback against the closure as some citizens of Melfort came to speak their minds. The owner and general manager of the property, Kirk Oh said the entrance shouldn’t be closed. He said that in his time of owning that property (about five years), there hasn’t been an accident.

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“The main entrance is the main critical thing for our business, and for the guests as well,” Oh said.

Kirk Oh spoke at the Regular Council Meeting on June 10. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

The dialogue between Oh and the City of Melfort started a few years ago when the city proposed closing the entrance. Oh sent multiple letters to the city, and even had a petition to bring to the meeting on Monday. Over 100 people signed the petition in just a few days according to Oh.

Melfort Mayor Rick Lang said the decision to close was one that they thought was the right one.

“We don’t know what the fallout will be,” Lang told northeastNOW. “But it was the right decision based on the expert advice that we got.”

The entrance is on the southwest portion of the property, and there are two other entrances on the north side as well. Lang said they have tried to work with Oh to improve the conditions of the northern entrances.

“I think that, if promoted properly, it will have no impact on him whatsoever,” Lang said. “So, really if he works with the city, and the city works with him, which is what we’ve proposed, we can mitigate any negative issues with respect to that.”

There are two entrances on the north portion of the property. (Mat Barrett/northeastNOW Staff)

However, Oh said he doesn’t belive council took his concerns seriously, but acknowledged Lang offered to work with him to improve the northern entrances. Oh said he doesn’t believe that is possible because the larger, delivery type vehicles have too sharp of an angle to turn to get into the property. The entrances are also somewhat steep, which city staff said they were willing to work on to make it a less steep grade.

Oh added he hopes they change their mind.

According to Lang, the works and utilities department will start working as soon as possible to officially close that entrance, but patrons will still be able to use it until the closure.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6