A Halifax business owner says she feels an immense of amount of guilt, unable to provide full services to her clients, while blasting continues right across the street.
Construction is happening on King Street near The Floatation Centre. Owner Lindsay MacPhee tells Acadia News, it’s been nothing but challenges and obstacles and dead ends since day one.
“We’ve had over 100 days of cancellations, refunds and closures,” says Macphee. “There’s just really nothing in place that can help protect us. Whether that be financially or just the safety of guests.”
She says, despite best efforts to accommodate, if she had known how bad it was going to be she would have shut down during the day.
First of its kind
Open since 2015, The Floatation Centre is the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada, with one other location in Antigonish. They focus on floatation therapy; a pharmaceutical-free way of treating things like anxiety and chronic pain.
“We are an inclusive space,” says MacPhee. “We are a compassionate, non-judgmental space and have always done whatever we could to be there for our community.”
She says they also offer massage therapy, acupuncture and similar services.
“It’s a really unique therapy,” adds MacPhee. “But it’s also incredible that we have existed for 11 years. I get hugs every single day and people say thank you.”
However, due to the blasting she’s had to cancel many appointments with fear that it would be unsafe for her clients who have PTSD.
“If they were in a float tank and felt the rumble through the space, it could trigger a trauma like response for them,” explains MacPhee. “We are a place of healing, not distress.”
In addition to that, financially it’s been tough ever since COVID and now, she’s had to take a 20 per cent pay cut to get by.
“We have been crawling out of the pandemic hole, still,” explains MacPhee. “Since December and January when the construction across the street began, we’ve unfortunately just experienced a nosedive.”
Ongoing construction
The construction across the street is for a 10-floor apartment building according to the Halifax Developments Blog.
MacPhee says, to her knowledge, work will last a couple of years, but her main concern is the noise making activities.
“They’re kind of finishing up with those, however, two spaces down directly beside a daycare, they just started blasting,” adds MacPhee.
Councillor Virginia Hinch asked for a staff report June 23 on blasting near elementary schools and daycares, which passed 14-3.
“I reached out [to Virginia Hinch] to ask if maybe we could have an addendum or something that could include businesses like mine,” adds MacPhee.
When asked what Councillor Hinch suggested, MacPhee said she should try to be heard and agreed she could “go nuclear and blow this up so that people will start listening.”
What does she want?
For any construction projects, MacPhee says there should be consultation with business owners and neighborhoods in general on what impact it will have.
Then, some compensation.
“That their setting aside some money that goes into a fund for the city,” explains MacPhee.
Where the funds would come from, MacPhee isn’t sure, but says even $30,000 put aside would make a difference.
“It’s a drop in the bucket to what these folks spend on the daily,” adds MacPhee. “I can’t just pick up and move my business. My options are trying to power through or shutting it down.”
“My plan is to do this forever.”
