Randy Stagg Video Production - Victoria' BC Store St - Rock Bay - Time Of Change

Store St - Rock Bay – A Time Of Change Title Walking For Exercise This video is a visual record of an area that will be completely transformed over the next 10 year redevelopment period. Store Street is an historic north-south thoroughfare in downtown Victoria, from Johnson Street to Pembroke Street. On the edge of downtown, Store Street runs through Victoria’s historic Chinatown and the Old Town district. The 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush transformed Victoria from a fur-trading post into a booming city. Store Street became the logistical heart of the harbor. As Victoria’s Chinatown rapidly expanded in the late 19th century, Store Street served as its western boundary. The Store Street area is undergoing decade-long rollout into a mixed-use “Industry, Arts, and Innovation District. The project spans roughly seven acres across two full city blocks centered on the former Capital Iron. The redevelopment plans include 3 key heritage buildings on Store Street— Capital Iron, Valhalla Pure Outfitters, and a small pottery store—will receive extensive seismic upgrades and remain intact. The Store Street redevelopment has a 10-year phased master plan. Work will began in the parking lot across from Capital Iron. • The first step focuses on new home for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, alongside a brand-new public plaza. The plan will bring well over 600 new housing units into the north end of downtown. The project includes two 14-storey towers dedicated to strata housing, two rental buildings with approximately 240 units, and various studios where artists can live and work. The reclamation of the Rock Bay industrial area - where the powerhouse stands - was among the most complex and expensive environmental cleanups in Canadian history. Spanning more than a decade and costing nearly $150 million, it targeted over a century of toxic industrial dumping. The Victoria Gas Company and BC Electric were the predecessors of BC Hydro. From 1862 to 1952, they operated a massive coal- gasification plant on the bay. The main by-product of turning coal into gas was coal tar—a thick, black sludge with cancer-causing heavy metals and hydrocarbons. Industries routinely filled the harbour and surrounding lands with this, allowing it to seep deep into the soil and groundwater. 85% of the land in the immediate area became heavily contaminated, making it one of the most toxic sites in Canada. In 2003, a three-stage mega-cleanup started, ending in 2016. Cleaning the shore required engineering feats. Workers built massive temporary cofferdams (which are water-tight enclosures) to wall off parts of the bay. Millions of litres of ocean water were pumped out - so crews could dig out the contaminated seabed in dry conditions. To reach the worst pools of poison, BC Hydro needed to demolish adjacent un-salvageable historic brick buildings - because the sludge was directly beneath their foundations. During the 13-year project, crews excavated and removed more than 250,000 tonnes of contaminated soil and sediment, and treated 7 million litres of toxic groundwater. Universal Production Music Harlem Jump CV013-1 Dance Marathon Stomp CV013-2 Queen Of The Speakeasy CV013-3 Scenes From The 20’s A CV013-4 Scenes From The 20’s B CV013-5 Vodi – Odi – O – Do CV013-9 Main Street Jump CV013-11 Bootleg Boogie CV013-13 Depression Blues CV013-16 Black Stompers CV013-17 Mayfair Quick Step CV013-19 Randy Stagg Video Production    / @rvjs100