It looks like everyone will be moved out of the Riverside Trailer Park in Brackendale by the Squamish Nation’s deadline of Saturday.
On Sept. 8, 2016, The Nation announced it was closing a portion of the park on its Seaichem Reserve by Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 due to the cost of replacing outdated water and sewer infrastructure.
As of Friday, 16 tenants have moved off the park, and the remaining three tenants have all agreed to move by Saturday, according to a press release from the Nation.
“The Squamish Nation has dedicated itself to treating all tenants fairly during the one-year, rent-free notice and relocation period,” said Squamish Nation Coun. and spokesperson Chris Lewis in the release.
“We wish to thank our former tenants for their understanding. We looked for ways to keep the park open, but in the end, closing the park was the only option left for us.”
The Spiral Mobile Home Park has expanded to accommodate six of the trailers from Riverside. A resident of Spiral who did not want to give her name for fear of reprisals told The Chief trailers were being moved onto the site as late as 3 a.m. Thursday night in an effort to help the homeowners make the Saturday deadline.
Accommodating newcomers has been a hardship on existing park tenants the Spiral resident said. The expansion was on previous green space used by the Spiral tenants.
“We have also had to put up with a month of our trailer shaking due to the diggers and operations going-on on the other side of our fence. I want these people to have a home but not at the expense of my sleep and my own home,” the Spiral resident told The Chief on Friday.
We will continue to follow this story as it develops.
