They’ve been putting up with disruption from a construction site on their doorstep for more than a year.
But a few weeks ago, when the same project required a major upgrade to the sewer system and the subsequent loss of more parking spots, a number of Steveston merchants called time-out.
Of the Moncton Street businesses affected, Steveston Coffee Co. has suffered the worst from the building of The Roderick, a 32-unit residential complex which will boast a Save-On-Foods when it’s completed in the fall.
The little coffee shop has humoured the noise and the dust over the last year or so, but then had piles of gravel dumped outside its front door last week on parking spots its customers lost three weeks ago.
“(Business) has dropped off about 25 per cent in that time,” said Roy Chen, owner/operator of Steveston Coffee Co.
“People, especially in the morning, on their way to work, can’t get parked anywhere near here. They don’t have time to park far away and walk here.
“I knew there would be disruption, but no one told us we would lose all these parking spots for so long.”
Indeed, before meeting with Chen and his neighbouring merchants, the Richmond News had to park almost four blocks away near Garry Point Park.
Kara Scott, kitchen supervisor at Dave’s Fish ‘n’ Chips across the road, said all the businesses, including theirs, received a notice from a sub-contractor, detailing that some disruption would take place in April for a few weeks.
“They just walked in and handed it to one of the servers out front, we didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone,” said Scott.
“The sign (on the road) says ‘temporary no parking,’ but they leave that up on the weekend, when there’s no work taking place. I have customers that are asking me to park there.
“We have a lot of older, senior citizen customers, for them to get here, they’ve got to walk for blocks. Our deliveries can’t get in and out, either.
“(Business) is definitely slower and we’ve got Mother’s Day next weekend and then the long weekend after that. The light turns on (in Steveston) at these times and we need our customers.”
Both Scott and Chen pointed out that there’s lots of competition for coffee and fish ‘n’ chips in Steveston.
Next door to Chen, Kirsten Boag, manager of Moncton Dental, said she and her customers have had issues parking in her own private spot out back.
“A female construction worker was talking aggressively to a customer when they parked in our spot. Our customer was told he wasn’t supposed to park there; there’s been a few instances when they’ve told us not to park there also,” said Boag.
Kyle Shury, of the project’s developer, Platform Properties, said his company wasn’t aware of any concerns before attending the site on Tuesday.
Shury said he spoke with the on-site contractor to see if they followed protocol and if they had received any complaints. He said there was only one.
“There was extensive, off-site works taking place in the last few weeks, which included upgrades to the sanitary system,” explained Shury.
“But we appreciate this is an inconvenience…and we try to minimize the disruptions. If anyone has concerns, they should contact (the contractor on the notice).”
Shury added that some of the affected parking spots in that area of Moncton Street may still be affected for the rest of the month.
City of Richmond’s protocol, said Shury, is for a contractor to give 72 hours’ notice to affected businesses and residents, which was the case.
A spokesperson for the city said in a statement that it was “unfortunate that communication to the businesses wasn’t clearer about the scope of the project. The good news is that some of the disruption should be alleviated within the week.
“It is typical for the city to have the developer provide notice to the affected parties.”
The city it expects the five parking spots fronting the dental office and Steveston Coffee Co. will be “returned to normal service by the end of the week,” while the six spots fronting the development site “will remain out of service…during construction.”
