Business along west Valley Line hopes city compensates her for changing parking lot access

A small business owner hopes the city can better accommodate her as LRT construction on the future Valley Line west leg will forever change how customers will be able to access her store.

Five years ago, Just For Fun Video Games owner Penny Smith attended a town hall that assured her that construction would have a marginal impact on her business at the corner of Stony Plain Road and 156 Street.

The store and neighbouring small businesses have a parking lot that currently has two access points from 156 Street.

The Valley Line West LRT will travel away from downtown along Stony Plain Road until 156 Street, where it moves south until 87 Avenue toward West Edmonton Mall.

In 2018, the decision was made to redesign how the LRT was going to complete the turn so it could be closer to the existing Jasper Place Transit Centre.

That meant the existing access points would be closed, in addition to 100A Avenue. The only remaining way to get to Just For Fun's parking lot would be from Stony Plain Road and into its back alley.

Smith says it means customers travelling by car will have to go 900 metres out of their way just to get to her front door.

"That's very disappointing because most of my business is impulse buyers," she told CTV News Edmonton.

"I was assured that the LRT would not impact my store one bit," she added. "I believed them, and I felt confident that they were giving me the right information, so I renewed my lease for another five years."

Area Coun. Andrew Knack says closing those driveways is necessary for the safety of motorists.

Last council term, Knack said negotiations happened in private with the property owner and city lawyers to see how they could be compensated. The complicating factor is that the small businesses have individual leases with the overall property owner, he added.

According to Smith, there was a deal on paper that was agreed upon by all sides that was then taken off the table after the last municipal election.

"After the new council came in, they just changed their mind and went a complete 180, no compensation," Smith said. "It's turning my stomach upside down."

For her to move to a different location in the area at a comparable size, it would double her rent, Smith says. With construction set to begin in front of the store in April and affect the area for several years, she's now left thinking about what to do.

"These were things that the city was planning and promising they would do, and now they are not," Smith said.

"So I am stuck here with the unknown. Maybe it will be better, maybe it won't. But it definitely won't be the same."

Unfortunately, Knack says the bottom line is there is a difference between what the city is legally obligated to do and what is the right thing to do. He wants to see that change to better support small businesses.

"With where the train is going and how it is making that turn, that really does change how those access points are made," he said. "If you are essentially having to go a couple of blocks away to get there, that is hard."

"These are small business owners who have invested a lot for decades," he added. "We want to make sure that we recognize that investment that they have made."

"I still think there's more work we can do to help with that."

As Smith plans to retire after leading the store since 1992 and hand the reins of her business to her son, who has worked alongside her for 15 years, she remains worried that it will become too difficult for customers to access their store.

"Everything I have now is heartache. It's pretty well destroying my livelihood and my son's," Smith said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson