There used to be a gas station on the NW corner of Davie and Burrard. I remember when they tore the building down and scooped out all of the contaminated soil (gasoline had leaked from the underground storage tanks – it happens often):
Given the high price tag that likely accompanied this sweet piece of real estate (never mind the clean-up), I could only assume something would be built here soon. Nine months would go by, and the lot would remain empty with nothing but a yellow metal fence enclosing it. However, a week or so ago, something seemed to go up overnight – what could it be?
This looks suspiciously like a community garden. After a quick browse about google, I couldn’t find anything that might answer my question. Interestingly, I saw something similar next to the Granville Street Bridge (red circle):
I asked a friend that works for the city about this, but she had no idea what was going on. Can a Terry* reader confirm my suspicions?
5 Responses to Does anyone have any idea of what’s going on here?
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Hey Dave,
I’m pretty sure that any old gas station site needs to lay fallow for 2 years or so to allow for the gasoline in the soil to seep deep enough so as not to affect future construction projects. You see this all over the city – I can think of 4th and Macdonald off the top of my head; and there’s a building going up on the south-east corner of 4th and Alma after a number of years of disuse. I feel like I also heard of a condo dig in yaletown that ran into some environmental inspection trouble this spring when they found that they had dug below where the gas had seeped.
Anyway, I also noticed the apparent new community garden at Burrard and Davie (not Pacific) and as far as I can see, the only information they have posted is the name of the landscaping company doing the work.
Thanks for the info Chris. If I remember correctly, the station had been closed down and out of service for at least a year before they tore everything down and dug out the soil (perhaps it had been in fallow long enough?).
If it is a community garden (read: vegetable garden), great! However, there seems to be a lot of wasted space taken up by the paths – maybe the city bought the land and is converting it into a floral garden.
The same deal is going on at 16th and Oak Street. The lot on the SW corner has been empty for several years – I believe it was a leave-fallow-following-gas station scenario as well. When I returned from Boston this summer, I noticed that there were a handful of boxes in place where people were growing… whatever they were interested in, I suppose. The whole thing was fenced in (I believe behind lock and key actually) and there was an email address provided if you were interested in getting involved (just found this a moment ago). I’ve been meaning to learn more. Maybe this is a city-wide endeavour? One thing I was wondering was whether the soil in the boxes was even interacting with the soil underneath (possibly a ridiculous question, but have a heart – I ain’t feeling that great).
Alright, I have some insider info from someone at the city. Apparently, the lots are community gardens that were put in by a developer and the VPSN (Vancouver Public Space Network). Info about the garden at Pacific and Seymour can be found here (apparently, there is already a wait list for the space).
The wide paths are probably so that they are wheelchair accessible.