Digging a hole at a future eight-pump gas station next to the Starbucks outlet spurred a phone call from the city's planning department last week.

Pat Ross, a planning technologist with the city, said Monday his office made a phone call to Ketza Construction last week regarding a large hole the company has dug on a property between Starbucks and Quartz Road.

'We told them they weren't supposed to contour the land without a permit,' Ross said in an interview.

'We phoned Ketza up and said we're still reviewing the (development) application..

'We obviously don't want holes being dug because it's technically messing with the contours of the land. It was likely a miscommunication.'

Ross said while the phone call was to put a stop to the digging, it wasn't technically a stop-work order.

'There wasn't a formal stop-work order issued; it was more of a phone call from the department.'

A stop-work order, he said, would see bylaw officers post signs on the site.

'There were no bylaw officers on-site.'

Ross said the development permit application for the site will likely be approved in the next few days.

'We're supposed to turn development proposals like this around in two weeks, we have an agreement in place with Argus (Properties Ltd., which owns the Chilkoot Centre).

'What we're reviewing is a lot less than what we would normally review; all the infrastructure is in place,' said Ross.

'The only thing that we're held up on is they want a turnoff onto Quartz Road,' he said.

The development permit, he said, could be completed once Wayne Tuck, the city's engineering manager, is back from vacation. He was expected back on the job today.

The site, North of 60 Petro spokesman Jim Beckham confirmed Monday, will be a gas station.

'It's a possibility, yes we are. I'm working on a press release right now.'

Peter Densmore of Ketza Construction said Monday the work on the property is a test hole for frost.

He said he has submitted a building permit application on the project and was under the impression the owner of the lot already had a development permit in place.

'I wasn't aware (there was no development permit). We applied for a building permit. We thought the developers for the property had a permit; clearly, they didn't,' Densmore said.

He said he ordered his workers to stop when the lack of development permit situation came to his attention.

Densmore said his workers will begin work on an eight-pump gas station as soon as the development permit is issued.

The downtown area has lost other gas pumps in recent months. Whitehorse Esso closed permanently last November, while the Shell station on the Second Avenue curve opted to close for the past winter.