James Bay residents want gas station renos put in high gear

The closest gas station is the Shell on Esquimalt, over the Johnson Street Bridge, 2.1 km away. The Petro-Can in Fairfield by Ross Bay Cemetery is a 3km+ drive. A James Bay resident has started an online petition to fuel the city council to do something about a gas station project at 308 Menzies that appears to be running on fumes.

“It's such a mess,” Jen Reimer tells Capital Daily. “It's unsightly, it's a magnet for crime and vandalism, and really, the residents deserve better than that.”

The Save on Gas bar, in the shadow of the BC Parliament Buildings, closed for renovations before the pandemic. New tanks and pumps were installed and a two-storey building was erected, but the project has an abandoned appearance, with much of the work unfinished, construction material strewn about, and weeds sprouting up everywhere.

The James Bay Neighbourhood Association has received complaints from residents displeased the lot looks idle, if not deserted, Trevor Moat, the JBNA president tells Capital Daily. “It's particularly galling, at this time of year, because we're in the height of our tourist season,” Moat said.

“This is right near the core of our village. It's just literally a stone's throw a block away from the legislature. It's very disappointing that there isn't more care and attention being put into the site,” he said.

One neighbour tells Capital Daily there’s lots of speculation about what’s happening with the site and that many are wondering whether the owner—purportedly a resident of Hong Kong—was doing just enough work to comply with building agreements reached with the city.

Everything is being done properly, councillor says

Coun. Jeremy Caradonna, James Bay’s neighbourhood liaison, says the property owners have all the necessary approvals in place. He said work is being done under three separate building permits valid until the end of the year: two active permits for two gas station pump canopies and one active permit for additions and alterations (ground-floor addition for a commercial kitchen, a second-storey addition for an office, and alterations to the existing gas bar and convenience store).

Caradonna said a building inspector recently went to the site and found it to be in reasonable order: fenced in and generally tidy.

“As such,” he tells Capital Daily, “it appears the site is being managed and things are progressing, albeit rather slowly.”

Caradonna said he's checked with Bylaw Services to determine if there are any other city bylaws that would be triggered by the site conditions that could expedite the project.

As of Monday afternoon, the online petition had amassed 355 signatures, with a preliminary goal of 500 and an ultimate goal of 1K, at which point Reimer said she would like to present it to the council in the fall in the hopes the situation gains traction in a council meeting, although just what the city could do remains to be seen.

“I recognize that the neighbourhood is ready to see this project completed,” Caradonna said in an email to Capital Daily. “Unfortunately, some proponents take quite a while to complete projects, and the city has only limited tools to compel faster action.”

In an email to Capital Daily, city spokesperson Colleen Mycroft said “The City of Victoria does have an active investigation regarding the Property Maintenance Bylaw for 308 Menzies Street.”

Mycroft said it was the result of a complaint received on May 30. “We have spoken with the owner and compliance efforts are underway.”

No gas station for James Bay's 12,700 residents

Meanwhile, walking past the unkempt site, Reimer said, is a constant reminder that James Bay’s 12K+ residents have been left with “no fuel, charging, propane, repair, and retail delivery systems.”

The closest gas station is the Shell on Esquimalt, over the Johnson Street Bridge, 2.1 km away. The Petro-Can across from Ross Bay Cemetery in Fairfield is a 3km+ drive.

“We've got a lot of retired and elderly people and they depend on their cars,” Reimer said.

“You know, they don't use their bicycles or take the bus, and we have no propane services, no air to fill up tires, all of those things, and certainly a confectionary store would also be helpful.”

According to the City of Victoria archives, while dozens of gas stations have come and gone in the downtown core, James Bay had two other gas stations at one time: A Home Oil Service station at the same 308 Menzies location circa. the 1960s, and a few blocks around the corner, Parker's Garage and Machine Shop, at 310 Belleville near Oswego in the early 1900s—now Quadra Park.

And another neighbourhood concern . . .

The JBNA’s Moat said the situation on the Menzies corner in question is a bit of a double whammy.

“It's also disconcerting from that perspective, that Irving Park, which is literally across the street, is also the site of considerable discomfort with the neighborhood in the sense that it's a place that the city has to date allowed people to camp, and there have been reports of violence there in the past, and that's something that the neighborhood association is very concerned about,” he said.