A section of Parkside Drive South will soon be known as Exhibition Way South. City council made the decision on Sept. 13 with a 7–2 vote. The city said the curved road resulted in an ad hoc approach to addressing and an influx in addressing requests because of development at the Exhibition site has made the problem apparent.
“Certainly this is not something that we couldn’t work around but what is being suggested is that the easiest way to fix this is to rename this portion as Exhibition Way South,” said Coun. Belinda Crowson. “Because the city owns the land on both sides, there are no residences impacted and this is the approach that administration has suggested.”
The renaming will cost the city $2,000 for new signs.
Coun. Jeff Carlson asked if there had been a community discussion around the issues. Crowson said the only formal information from the public was a letter of support from the Lethbridge and District Exhibition and Bully’s Casino.
“I see the common sense reason for why we should rename this and the Exhibition has been there since 1911 and it’s probably just an oversight that nobody ever thought — why not name it Exhibition Way and help people find the Exhibition easier,” Crowson said.
Councillors. Jeff Carlson and Rajko Dodic were opposed. Carlson questioned if there was any thought given to consulting the public for new name ideas.
Joel Sanchez, director of infrastructure services, said the Exhibition came forward with the request and no direction was given to consult the public. He added the affected property is city owned.
“I am not going to support this resolution and the reason for that is there is absolutely no purpose for it. People don’t go around looking at signs to see what street they are on, especially if they want to find the Exhibition,” Dodic said.
The proposal was reviewed by City of Lethbridge departments, including planning and design, tax and assessment, Opportunity Lethbridge, parks and Fire and EMS. The city said Canada Post was also consulted and no issues were identified.