Residents of a Fairfield block are getting their mail delivered again — two months after Canada Post stopped the service over a carrier’s concerns about a nearby off-leash dog park.
Gonzales Avenue resident Brian Rogers said home mail delivery in the area resumed Friday.
About a dozen homes on the 1800 block of Gonzales between Richardson Street and Foul Bay Road have had to pick up their mail — initially at Canada Post’s Glanford Avenue sorting plant in Saanich, and more recently from a facility on Fort Street — while home delivery was stopped.
The City of Victoria’s parks department had been in talks with Canada Post about addressing concerns surrounding the off-leash area of Pemberton Park.
For the past month, the city has increased enforcement by bylaw officers and posted additional signs about keeping dogs leashed before they enter and after they leave the park.
The city was told by Canada Post that the mail carrier hadn’t been bitten by a dog, but had felt threatened by an unleashed dog leaving Pemberton Park.
Some residents, including Rogers and Marg Kavanagh, wanted the city to fence off a 40-foot area and add a gate that would have closed off the park across the street from their homes. But the city refused, saying only two of Victoria’s 15 off-leash parks are completely fenced — Alexander Park at Bay and Oregon streets, and Victoria West Park.
“The thing is, we never heard a peep from the city the whole time about this,” said Rogers. “The only person who responded was our MP, Laurel Collins.”
Canada Post has not commented on the issue, or why mail delivery was reinstated late last week.
CUPW Local 850, which represents unionized postal workers in the region, said dog bites are a serious issue and a constant fear for postal carriers.
dkloster@timescolonist.com
