The on-again, off-again passage through the business park segment of the Island Village mall has taken another divergence. Charlie Frame, owner of CFA properties, has decided to close the northern end of his rear parking lot, which for the last two and a half years has again become a quasi-public road that allows north-south traffic to slalom through the commercial development. Assuming the business owner receives approval from the fire department, he’ll place a semi-permanent barrier on his private property that would be removed only when there’s need for emergency ingress or egress.

It’s about time. Considering the safety and liability issues involved, allowing it to remain open to through traffic would have been irresponsible. Hundreds of cars travel the narrow, private road each day as it twists between Wallace Way and Hildebrand Lane. Its tricky but convenient passage has allowed it to became the favorite route of many drivers after the city decided not to connect Ericksen Avenue with Hildebrand when the development was built in the 1980s.

It has become such an ingrained habit that people — whether traveling by car, motorcycle or bicycle — often refused to honor a temporary barrier that CFA recently erected in order to put an asphalt sealant on the road and paint speed bumps. During the last 10 days, some people have been seen using the drive-in-banking lanes at Frontier Bank, or ducking under the rope barrier with their two-wheelers.

So Frame decided to make the obstacle permanent. Earlier this year he had hoped the city would bend to the business community’s desire to pull the green plug (also known as Ericksen Park) between Ericksen and Hildebrand to create a public thoroughfare. But when that didn’t happen, he decided he had to take care of his business and customers. You can’t blame him, though many people certainly will.

It is the city’s mess, not his, though it’s an inherited muddle since the development occurred before Bainbridge Island was incorporated. Nevertheless, with battle lines deeply etched between residents who would seemingly defy bulldozers before allowing Ericksen to become a primary north-south road and business people who are incensed that the city is seemingly impervious to their needs, this is a major conundrum for a council easily torn.

Is this just a ploy by the business community to upset motorists and swing the momentum its way? Considering the heat rising from this row, such accusations are inevitable. But CFA and others have for several years unselfishly allowed their private property to be used by the public, so denouncing them for supposedly being self-serving rings hollow. No, this is the city’s responsibility, though it appears that the city’s elected leaders have an acute case of paralysis on difficult issues. This one is clearly a stalemate.

The consequence of the back door being closed is to create even more congestion on High School Road, which is a migraine that won’t wane. Now there is one street in and the same street out of an increasingly busy commercial center. The stretch between 305 and Madison Avenue is one of the busiest byways in town, with traffic entering and exiting it on multiple occasions from both sides of the road. For drivers, it’s a hair-pulling labyrinth, especially during daylight hours. One might as well be driving in downtown Seattle on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

What to do? Why not learn to live with the standoff. It is what it is, and while driving into the shopping center from High School Road may be a dented fender looking to happen, hey, consider it a test of your driving ability. And there’s always Winslow Way, though it’s possible a sink hole could up and grab your left-front tire one of these days.

Perhaps City Hall should follow the lead of Washington State Ferries and ask people to shop more often during off-peak hours.