Historic Irving gas station site in Charlottetown poised to become EV charging hub

Documents posted on the City of Charlottetown's website in error contain wide-ranging details on a plan to have the heritage-designated Irving gas station on Euston Street donated to the city and turned into a fuelling spot for a very different generation of vehicles.

The proposed net-zero project, called the Euston Street Irving ReEnergization Concept, has an initial price tag of $2,434,303, according to an estimate Coles Associates prepared for the city that's included among the 87 pages of documents.

The white building with a rounded turret forming part of its brown roof at 83 Euston St. dates back to the 1920s. It was built when Irving Oil Ltd. was still a small regional company based in New Brunswick.

It has been boarded up and roped off for years, following a brief stint as a car rental company in the years after the gasoline pumps were removed in 2008.

But like a handful of other turreted Irving gas stations across the region built in the same era, the station escaped demolition due to its architectural and historic interest.

Now the city hopes to receive $750,000 in funding from the province and $750,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to redevelop the site, as well as spending $750,000 of its own capital funds after the Irving group of companies donates the site.

This is what the former gas station, which may have been Charlottetown's first fuelling site as automobiles were growing in popularity during the 1920s, looked like on Wednesday. (Stacey Janzer/CBC)

Plans call for the gas station building to become a community hub as well as "a kilowatt café" where EV drivers could relax after plugging their vehicles into high-speed chargers, with 31 solar panels providing electricity.

First talks were in July 2021

Those plans have been almost three years in the making behind closed doors, since an initial conversation between an Irving representative and the city's chief administrative officer on July 5, 2021, according to council documents posted online.

A draft agreement dated Feb. 29, 2024, outlines plans for the City of Charlottetown to accept the donation of the property in an "as-is, where-is" condition from Arcadia Sites Limited, an Irving-owned company based in Saint John.

The agreement was due to come into force on Thursday — May 29, 2024 — as long as the city signed off on it after having experts review the site, which it estimates is worth $1.25 million.

The P.E.I. government has plans to install more fast chargers for residents and tourists alike, similar to this one in St. John's, N.L. (Lukas Wall/CBC)

During a closed session of a special meeting held Tuesday night, councillors discussed the following motion: "That council authorizes the mayor and chief administration officer to waive the city's due diligence clause in the donation agreement with Arcadia Sites Limited, and proceed with further work in securing funding for the development concept."

That motion and all the documents supporting it were not supposed to be released, though.

"A City of Charlottetown council package containing information from a closed session held May 28, 2024 was mistakenly posted on the city's website outlining preliminary details regarding a redevelopment concept," a city spokesperson said in an email to CBC News on Wednesday.

"As soon as the error was noted, the package was removed and all interested parties were notified. The city and its partners will continue to work towards finalizing this project and hope to make a joint announcement in the near future."

Another sketch of what the city hopes the net-zero EV hub will look like, from a different angle. (City of Charlottetown)

The council package included not just the Feb. 29 legal agreement, but the city's concept proposal for Irving, an environmental assessment review from Joose Environmental Consulting Inc., and the project examination and initial cost estimate from Coles Associates.

The estimate from Coles had an asterisk, however.

"Building review was only from visual observation at the street," the company said in its breakdown of the cost. "Estimates may be revised pending site access and testing where necessary."

As for the property's past as a storage and distribution site for fuel products like gasoline, the city's summary of the project says this: "The environmental review examined all previous environmental studies completed to date by the property owner."

The city quoted Joose Environmental Consulting as saying: "The above noted redevelopment concept plan for the subject site is considered acceptable and would not require any additional environmental site assessment work."

After the gas station's pumps were removed in 2008, the property hosted a car rental company for a while. (City of Charlottetown)

That summation was in a report prepared by Michael Ruus, the city's director of integrated growth. The Ruus report includes a document field for "Public Engagement and Communication" that contains only the abbreviation NA (for not applicable).

"As the City has now completed its due diligence of the site and structure, it is reasonable for Council to direct waiving this condition in the donation agreement and accept the property," Ruus wrote in the document.

"Given the confidential nature of this project, staff will continue to work to finalize the funding of the project prior to any public announcement."

Irving retains some rights of refusal

The Arcadia Sites agreement contains many conditions, including one saying the city can't substantially change what it presented in the concept proposal. The company also requires that the city "include in the final design of the development a positive recognition of the history of the site, structure and donor's contribution."

Another clause specifies that the work must begin within 18 months and substantially complete it within 36 months. If the work isn't done within 48 months, the company reserves the right to buy back the site for $1.

There is also a clause spelling out how the Irving chain would potentially spend up to $400,000 to buy and install EV chargers on the site, as well as "related promotional and branding materials."

The city would then license the section of the property to Irving to operate the charging business, which would be supported by the solar panels at the site.

If Irving decides not to put chargers on the site, it reserves the right to prevent anyone else from doing so.