The residents of the Riverside Trailer Park are just about out of time.
Saturday, (Sept. 30) marks the final deadline for the 19 trailer owners on Squamish Nation land in Brackendale.
In September 2016, the Squamish Nation leadership told the tenants, the Nation had decided to close the park in one year because it was a health and safety risk and no longer financially viable.
Payment incentives were offered to tenants who signed agreements to leave ahead of the deadline.
To date, 10 tenants have left, six more have dates to move by the end of the week, one has agreed to leave by Sept 30, but has not given Squamish Nation a date, according to Chris Lewis, Squamish Nation Councillor.
A few of the remaining tenants are moving to the nearby Spiral Mobile Home Park, after the ownership there approved an expansion to accommodate them.
The District has issued the building permit to install all the pipes to the new pads, and Spiral is already doing that work, according to a District of Squamish spokesperson.
The tenants moving their trailers with them will need to get separate building permits that deal with the placement of the building.
As of Tuesday, eight tenants had left behind their trailers for the Nation to demolish, Lewis said.
Some of the demolitions have already occurred or are in the process of being demolished.
The District will work with the individual owners to quickly accommodate building permit requests, the District of Squamish spokesperson said.
A couple of the remaining residents, including Christine Crawford, say they find themselves in an overwhelming situation as the deadline fast approaches
Months ago, Crawford gave up hope of the situation resolving itself in the park or of finding an affordable place to live in Squamish and so took a job in Victoria.
Last week, however, Spiral management informed her there was a spot for her trailer.
She has lined up a company to move her home and there is a place to store it until the spot opens up
Over the weekend she needed to quickly prepare her trailer for the move.
She put out a call for help, but in the end her ex-husband came and helped her.
She described the scene over the weekend as “crazy” as remaining residents worked to move and the Nation’s excavator worked to demolish abandoned homes.
It is a lot to do in a short time and is very stressful, Crawford said.
Another resident, Wendy Linton, wrote a letter to the Squamish Nation and District of Squamish that was forwarded to The Chief, also expressing the stress the remaining tenants are under.
“The stress of trying to manage the situation as well as work full-time is wreaking havoc on our lives and relationships,” Linton wrote.
Linton asked to extend the move-out date, but that seems unlikely.
The closure remains on track and will go ahead as scheduled, according to Lewis.
In June, the Squamish Nation filed court actions against three of the residents who had not signed agreements to leave the park, including Linton.
Linton and another tenant involved in the litigation are the only tenants who have not signed an agreement to leave by Saturday.
One lawsuit has since been dropped after the tenant came to an undisclosed agreement with the Nation.
Crawford is not part of that action.
Adding to the complications for Crawford, however, is that her job in Victoria has wrapped up so she is trying to figure out whether to move back to the district permanently or not.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” she said, her voice going quiet. “Maybe it is just too much for me.”
The move will cost her about $50,000, a big chunk of which she borrowed from her adult son.
**Please note this story has been updated since it was originally posted.
