Park Lane Mall escalators unlicensed since 2023

Park Lane Mall’s bottom two escalators are out of order — a familiar sight for patrons of the mall. 

Though mall patrons and a business owner remember the escalator running several times this year, the operating licence posted between the side-by-side escalators expired Dec. 31, 2023.

Currently, one of the escalators is entirely blocked off while the other is frozen and used as a staircase.

The province’s Elevators and Lifts Act says that “No owner of an elevating device shall operate the device or cause or permit it to be operated unless it is licensed under this Act.” Additionally, the Act says, the licence must be displayed adjacent to the elevating device. 

Jennifer Barnable, a Halifax-based disability inclusion advocate, says she stopped shopping at Park Lane Mall within the last six months because of accessibility and safety concerns. 

“As a disabled person, accessibility is a complete non-negotiable. The prolonged and unresolved Park Lane issues signal to disabled folks that we’re not really welcome and, if we do come, (to) expect a limited experience at our own risk.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration said in an emailed statement that the escalator was taken out of service by the owner but could not provide an exact date. 

Rob Schelleman, commercial realty manager for mall owner Universal Realty Group, said in an interview that the escalator has only been out of order for about five to six weeks, and that the escalator would have been taken out of service at this time.

Schelleman did not know how frequently the escalators had gone out of order since the licence expired in 2023.

“We’ve applied for a licence, we just haven’t gotten it from the Department of Labour yet, and also we need to do a condition report on the escalator,” Schelleman said.

“The bottom two (escalators) get, I guess, the most use. Things happen to them. Some things are more serious than others. In this case, there’s some parts that need to be machined.” 

Once a condition report from a registered contractor confirms the escalator is safe, a new licence can be issued by the province. Only then can the escalator be returned to service. 

Barnable described the escalators as “a true safety hazard that creates this makeshift unstable bottleneck of two-way traffic in an uneven and unstable stairway.”

She emphasized that it’s unsafe for everybody, as “people push through, without giving each other space or patience, in every direction.”

Schelleman did not respond to further questions from The Signal on why the escalators had been running without a licence for two years.

Though the mall has a working elevator, Barnable said it’s not an adequate alternative to the escalator. When the escalators are not operating, she said “the result is a funnelling of too much general foot traffic diverted to the elevator system. This creates an additional barrier for those disabled people whose only access option is the elevator.”

According to shop owner Nadine Dajani, the escalator has been running since the licence expired in 2023. 

Dajani owns Splurge, a boutique located on level two of the mall. The escalator “goes on and off,” she said. Most recently, Dajani estimates it’s been off for around two consecutive weeks. 

Luca Thompson, a Grade 12 student at Citadel High School who visits the mall semi-regularly, said within the past two years “there have been times that it was working, but I’d say I’ve been here more often when it’s broken than not.”

Despite not having an active licence, Schelleman said they hope to have the escalators up and running in the next week.