Perth-Andover service station demolished
"Glory hallelujah!" was the comment from Kelley's Place owner Stephanie Kelley when she was asked about the demolition of the former Ultramar service station on East Riverside Drive. "We're ecstatic that people will finally be able to see our restaurant. As I wrote in this morning's newsletter (Black Fly Gazette), it was like being married to a slovenly beast who scares away all your friends! We were guilty by association."
The lot, which held the abandoned Ultramar and earlier Texaco service station has been the subject of several village council meetings and of discussion by many area residents who wondered why it took years to get the building demolished, a job that took just over three hours. In 2006 the village indicated they wanted to purchase the lot which they wanted to use for a parking lot for Virtual Agent Services call centre employees and others who work along East Riverside Drive, but the dilapidated building remained standing.
On Friday, July 11 that changed when workers and an earth mover from Valcon Construction started preparing the old service station building for demolition. They erected an orange fence around the site and in the morning started tearing down the building. By early afternoon Kelley's Place Restaurant was clearly visible.
"You just didn't want to look in that direction when that old building was there," said Stephanie Kelley. "To this day there are local people who don't even know we're back there and now this will expose us to random passersby." She said that now that the building can be clearly seen from the street, they are going to brighten it up. "Shannon (Kelley, her brother) is going to put on some white shutters like we have on the front of the building and perk that up and we're looking into putting up some window boxes on the three windows.
"This can only be good for my business. It's exposed it to the street and you can see it for a lot longer as you drive by. You can definitely say I'm beyond pleased."
Dan Dionne, Chief Administrative Officer of the Village of Perth-Andover, said on Monday that there is still work to be done after the surface cleanup of the site.
"We don't know the results of their soil tests yet," he said. "Ultramar had hired a third party to do the soil engineering part of it; the site will be remediated to a commercial grade lot and when that work is completed the village will turn that into a parking lot to help service the call centre and other businesses in that area.
"My understanding is that once they tear the building down and remove the cement slab they'll be doing soil tests right under where the building stood. How those tests come back will determine how much soil has to be removed from the site.
He said the village wants the lot, which is owned at the moment by the New Brunswick Department of Supply and Services.
"The village council has approached the province about taking ownership of the property after the remediation is done and then we'll look after the parking lot."
Judy Cole, director of communications for the Department of Supply and Services, confirmed the province is working in partnership with Ultramar to clean up and dispose of the property. Supply and Services is demolishing the building and Ultramar is cleaning up the site. Demolition and clean up is expected to take several weeks.
"Once the property is ready for disposal, Supply and Services will bring a recommendation to cabinet for their approval to convey the property to the village," Cole stated.
The property was transferred to Supply and Services several years ago as a tax sale property.
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