BONNYVILLE – A new fast-food chain is expected to make its debut in the Town of Bonnyville by the end of this year.
Construction is currently underway for the development of a Burger King restaurant on the corner of 50 Avenue and 46 Street, confirmed Ted Traikovski, the Town’s general manager of planning and community services.
Tricon Development Inc., the site developer, advised the municipality that the completion date of the project will be around the end of December 2023.
The Town approved a development permit application for a fast-food restaurant at the site on May 19, 2022.
After a 21-day appeal period, a requirement pursuant to the Municipal Government Act, the effective date of the permit was issued June 9, 2022, stated Traikovski.
For the development permit to remain valid, the applicant had to commence work within the first 12 months of the effective permit date.
After the permit was approved, a sign was placed on the empty lot teasing the arrival of a new fast-food restaurant. The exact restaurant was never announced, leading to the anticipation of the future development.
On June 8, just one day before the project permit was scheduled to lapse, construction got underway at the site. Nearly two months later, crews have been busy excavating and laying down the groundwork for the building to go up.
Early on, construction work did cause some interruptions to the traffic lanes on 46 Street as initial groundwork required tying into the underground services that connect to the site, explained Traikovski.
While the development of the site has had relatively little impact on commuters so far, residents should expect temporary traffic distruptions in the near future.
“There will be a temporary road closure on 50 Avenue that will go into effect near the middle to the end of August in order to abandon existing water lines and to create a new service tie in point,” stated Bonnie Van Hollen, the Town’s director of public works.
“The traffic accommodation plan for this has been approved and detours will be clearly marked.”
Intersection impact
Speaking to concerns of increased traffic around the already busy intersection, Traikovski noted that the Town anticipates an increase of traffic congestion making its way to the new business following its grand opening, but says it is unlikely to be a long-term problem.
After the novelty of the new fast-food chain wanes, it is anticipated that traffic flow will return to normal.
“Because the entrance is situated further north and not directly off of 50th Ave., this shouldn’t cause major delays at that intersection,” said Traikovski.
“The site plan provided by the applicant shows vehicle stacking lanes of up to approximately 16 vehicles in the drive-thru lanes up to the property line at peak times, and as per good planning site design for these types of businesses, access driveways on corner sites should be located as far as possible from the abutting street intersection, in which case, this is.”
To mitigate the impact and noise on adjacent landowners the developer will also be installing a fence along the northern boundary of the property, added Traikovski. This will also separate the property from the back alley.
Before the location and the final development application for the project were submitted to the municipality, Tricon took part in pre-development meetings with the Town, which involved the planning department, public works and the Town’s contracted building inspections agency, The Inspections Group, as well as other agencies.
Before the developers landed on a final site plan, several different variations and configurations were considered before the current layout and orientation of the building was agreed upon, indicated Traikovski.
The Town also worked with the Tricon as they chose a location to build on.
“A Fast Food Establishment or ‘Drive-In Food Services’ is a defined use in the Town’s Land Use Bylaw and is also a permitted use within the C3 – Highway Commercial District,” stated Traikovski, citing municipal and provincial bylaws and regulations.
