City of Duncan has absolutely no common sense
We have rented an office on Trunk Road for over 11 years in a building that has been here for over 50 years.
Recently a small older building on the lot was demolished and the city advised that they wanted driveway access on Trunk Road to be blocked off, and access to the parking lot to be from a driveway on Festubert Street. While the reduction of one access to the parking lot is not a real inconvenience, the city, in their lack of wisdom, is forcing four units in the building to change the addresses to Festubert Street. The reasoning is that if there is no access off of Trunk Road that the address should be changed to the side street address.
We did not notice the bank across the street who does not have access off of Trunk Road changing their address.
These units have been on Trunk Road since the building was erected 50 years ago and the storefronts are still on Trunk Road. What would possess the city to make such a change that will no doubt be very confusing to clients? “C’mon down to our office that is on Trunk Road but has an address on Festubert Street.”
This is not only an inconvenience to clients it is a real inconvenience for small business owners. What does it cost to change an address? Well, you will require new stationery, business cards, business cheques. You will be required to notify hundreds of clients and suppliers of your address change. Some of our businesses will be required to change the information on websites, yellow and white page advertising, Google rankings, licencing etc. Knowing the city, they will probably require us to buy another business licence.
You might think that a call to the city to discuss some of these issues might be a wise idea, but you would be wrong. The call to the city is a waste of time since the city employee in charge of this department does not return phone calls.
Greg Clifford, Cheryl Kothlow
Duncan