LANGLEY, Wash — The city of Langley on Whidbey Island put a hold on some road construction after an outcry from business owners who say the work was interfering with their holiday shopping season.
“Every city in this area is trying to catch up on infrastructure,” said Tim Callison, mayor for the city of Langley.
Callison said the town had another major project that got delayed and pushed the current project into this time period.
“Unfortunately, it is what it is with our timing,” Callison said.
The city initially hoped tourists wouldn’t mind the mess, but business owners say the reality was much different. They complained, and he listened – so for now you’ll see orange cones but no crews.
Despite the slowdown in construction through the end of the year business owners say the damage has already been done.
One business owner, David Price, says he lost 50% of revenue for each day of construction. Price claims at least six other businesses reported taking a hit ahead of their most lucrative time of the year.
Price says this was “probably the worst time” officials could have picked to schedule the project.
“I wish they would have scheduled the project during a downtime. Not only for the town but for the retail sector as well,” Price said.
The city says this work needs to be done by the end of January or else they could lose the grant money awarded for it.
However, they’ve agreed to clear the way for holiday shoppers.
“We decorated the barriers around the construction over here and talked about ways to kind of play it up on social media to let people know that we’re still open down here,” Price said.