Southeast Calgary residents frustrated after strip mall parking lot potholes damage vehicles

Some southeast Calgary residents are frustrated after numerous potholes in a local strip mall parking lot damaged their vehicles.

The lot, located in the 13000 block of Bow Bottom Trail Southeast in Deer Ridge, is filled with potholes, and many people say the problem has been a regular occurrence for several decades.

Numerous complaints about the potholes have also been lodged in local community Facebook groups. One local business owner told Global News they receive calls about the potholes at least three times a day.

“They’re absolutely awful…. You can bottom out your car no matter where you go,” said Cat Bentley, who visits the strip mall every day. “Even backing out of spots, you can get stuck.”

“I’m looking at a couple of potholes and I’m not really looking forward to driving over those at all. My car doesn’t look like it’s going to handle it,” Jarett Hauser said. “I know this parking lot has been in a little bit of disarray for a few years, but I haven’t actually seen it in a couple of years. This is really bad.”

A spokesperson for Canderel, the property management company that oversees the parking lot, says its responsibility to maintain the lot ends right before the McDonald’s drive-thru.

When asked what it plans to do to solve the pothole problem, the spokesperson said, “It is far too early in the season to have answers and there have been some recent and unexpected staff changes.”

“They need to fix it and try to find out why it’s always this bad, but it’s getting worse and worse,” said Joanne Oberhoffner, a Calgarian who visits the strip mall every few weeks.

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