Council approves new name for stretch of Parkside Drive

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on September 14, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber A car passes by construction at the Lethbridge Exhbition on a stretch of roadway that city council on Tuesday by a 7-2 vote renamed Exhibition Way South.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

A stretch of Parkside Drive South has a new name after city council on Tuesday by a 7-2 vote approved a recommendation from its Civic Works Standing Policy Committee.

The southeast section of that roadway at the east end of Henderson Lake will now be known as Exhibition Way South.

The recommendation was originally submitted by subdivision planner Janet Gutsell at a recent Civic Works SPC meeting.

The recommendation states the curved roadway configuration for Parkside Drive “has resulted in an ad hoc approach to the addressing of City assets in Henderson Park and on the Exhibition site over the years. With the redevelopment of the Exhibition site and building a new facility, an influx of addressing requests for construction permitting exposed this ad hoc approach and a lack of numerically sequential available addresses.”

Administration proposed to the Exhibition that renaming the section of roadway that passes the east end of Henderson Lake as an option to update addresses moving forward.

Gutsell told the SPC that stakeholders including the Exhibition and Canada Post were consulted about the proposal.

Several City departments including Planning and Design, Tax and Assessment, Opportunity Lethbridge, Fire/EMS and Transportation were also consulted and no issues were identified with the renaming.

Since two parcels of land fronting the section of roadway are owned by the City, no residents are directly affected and there will be no implications with land titles. Both the Exhibition and Bullys are in favour of the change.

The cost of the change will be about $2,000 for new signs.

Councillors Jeff Carlson and Rajko Dodic voted against the name change, the latter saying there was no purpose for it.

Acting mayor Belinda Crowson asked why the street shouldn’t be named after the Exhibition which has been in Lethbridge since 1911, pointing out the City has names paying tribute to both the college and the university.

Councillor Ryan Parker said he would support the name change but suggested council should be cautious because it could set a precedent with other groups or organizations wanting names changed, as well.

Exhibition CEO Mike Warkentin recently told The Herald that the Ex “not only has played an important role here on Parkside Drive but also in the community and the region as a whole.”

“We couldn’t be more honoured to be part of that and quite frankly we hope it goes forward so that regardless of the future of events and programming and what that looks like, the Exhibition’s legacy that it’s had in the community lives on,” said Warkentin.

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