No good deed goes unpunished, is how a few residents at the Spiral Mobile Home Park say they feel.
The Garibaldi Estates park made space for six trailers of the former Riverside Trailer Park in Brackendale after it was closed and its residents forced to relocate in September of 2017.
Some at Spiral told The Chief that while they wanted to help the Riverside tenants, they are troubled and frustrated by how the process rolled out and the inconvenience it has created. Both the District of Squamish and the park’s owners flouted rules and didn’t consider the existing residents, they say.
One resident, whose identity The Chief is allowing to remain confidential because the person fears repercussions related to employment, estimates about one-third of the tenants are unhappy with the current situation.
This tenant says the owner should have given 30 days notice to the tenants and a reduction in pad rent due to the loss of park space to bring in the new residents.
The Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act does say that to terminate or restrict facilities “essential to the tenant’s use of the manufactured home site as a site for a manufactured home” requires 30 days notice.
“The way they went about it — like they don’t have to let anybody know what is going on,” said resident Hans Michel, who has lived in Squamish four years.
He said he knows it is likely too late for anything to change at this point, but would like a financial break in his pad fees to compensate residents.
“I am hoping we can get a bit of a rent reduction,” he said.
Park owner Gabriel Lee said that though it wasn’t in the park’s best financial interest, they decided to make room for the in-limbo tenants at Riverside.
“As mobile home park operators, we felt really sorry for all those who were suddenly faced with the fact that they will be left homeless in the midst of a housing crisis in Metro Vancouver,” said Lee in an email to The Chief.
“With no obligation to do so, our residents and ourselves took the initiative to invite and welcome the Riverside residents who otherwise could have found themselves homeless. We provide a stable and affordable housing alternative for all our residents — old and new.”
It was a substantial capital investment to prepare the site, Lee stressed.
He did not respond to The Chief’s question of whether tenants at Spiral could get a rent reduction due to the changes at the trailer park.
Out of the original Riverside six who were offered spots, five residents managed to move their homes to Spiral, according to Lee.
Existing residents The Chief spoke to said that of the five, two from Riverside sold almost immediately. One tenant is still there and one trailer has remained empty, a resident reported. “Seems to me that a lot of people being ‘saved’ have not been in attendance,” the confidential source said.
All residents of Spiral, including those who moved from Riverside, own their homes and are therefore free to purchase or sell their homes as they wish, without any restrictions or hindrance from management, Lee said.
Lee asserts that the residents of Spiral were consulted about making room for the displaced residents of Riverside.
“To management’s surprise, an overwhelming number of residents — about 94 per cent of the residents — agreed in writing with the relocation of Riverside residents to our community to save their homes,” he said, adding only a couple of residents were worried about losing the green space, but even they agreed in the end.
Michel said that he never heard about anything in writing regarding the new tenants.
And Lee acknowledged that one resident has been very upset about the view being blocked by a new trailer.
“Sacrificing a bit of view is a small and reasonable price to pay to provide a home for someone else,” Lee said.
The residents The Chief spoke to also said that they thought the “green space” was space at the southeast end of the park, next to Amblepath, not the existing park utilized by local children and dog owners.
Lee said some, but not all of the existing play park was used.
“We had to utilize some of our green space to accommodate the displaced residents. However, green space still remains as set out by the engineering company to comply with municipal codes,” Lee said
While Lee said the new pads conform to all city bylaws and regulations and were designed by professional engineers who adhered to all required standards of proximity between units, the District acknowledges one home did not meet the guidelines.
“All mobile home placements met our guidelines except for one — a 10 to 20-centimetre variance in the six-metre setback between two homes,” said Jonas Velaniskis, director of development services. “This variance was noted but not enforced due to its minor nature, and to allow for the building permitting process to continue.”
According to Velaniskis, there was no requirement to create additional green space as the park has enough undeveloped area — five percent of the total area — to meet the requirements of the Mobile Home Park and Mobile Home bylaw.
The owners have not applied for a new green space to date, according to District staff.
Outgoing Mayor Patricia Heintzman told The Chief that she really appreciates that the Spiral park owners and tenants made the effort to make space for those from Riverside.
The Spiral site is challenging, she said, as the owners couldn’t use some land for the new tenants because it is part of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Therefore, getting approval would have taken too long, if it could have been gotten at all. The only option was to use the portion of the play park. “Ultimately, down the road, putting in another park in the treed area is a possibility for the landowners,” she said.
Whether the new tenants chose to stay isn’t something anyone could control and ultimately, selling allowed those who sold to get some return on their home’s investment — something that wouldn’t have happened if they had been left without anywhere to go after Riverside. “People generally want to help other people, and I think that was the intention behind it all,” she said.
