The owner of North Bay Trailer Park says local government threw up roadblocks as he tried to resolve the sewer situation.(Tyler Marr/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

trailer park woes

Trailer park owner claims lack of support from RM

Jun 3, 2019 | 5:00 PM

The owner of the North Bay Trailer Park, which will close August 1, claims his efforts to provide affordable housing have been thwarted at every corner by local government.

British Columbia based James Wankel told paNOW he had no political support in trying to find solutions to replace the park’s nearby sewer lagoon that was too small and inadequate for the job.

“I was an investor but I was also doing a service to the local community with the long-term expectation that we were going to provide good affordable housing,” he said. “All we hear about these days is affordable housing, but then when a private investor tries to do it it’s just roadblock, roadblock, roadblock.”

Wankel figured he’d spent over $200,000 in total expenses the past three years on various options to address the issue of the sewer works which no longer meets standards. He said the final and most recent option – buying a nearby farm along Red Wing Road to build a new lagoon – seemed ideal. He insisted the RM of Buckland led him to believe that would be a good solution and they even offered to collaborate with him on waste removal. He said he was stunned when the RM council rejected the idea following concerns raised by some residents about groundwater contamination and odour.

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“I was completely floored, I couldn’t believe they [the RM] would lead us down this path,” he said.

Wankel also recalls what he labelled the “smugness” of the RM regarding an exchange he had with an official during one of his many meetings.

“I asked ‘what are you going to do with these 60-plus families, these 200-plus people, if this park shuts down?’” he said. Wankel claims the person then answered by saying ‘we have a PR (public relations) department for that.’

The reeve of the RM of Buckland rejects that claim.

“I don’t remember anyone saying that,” Don Fyrk told paNOW. “We have no PR people.”

Fyrk also dismissed the notion that Wankel had been led along regarding the idea of a new lagoon on nearby farm land.

“We did not encourage him to buy the land. He bought it in the hope he could build a lagoon there,” Fyrk said. “We told him if you bought the land we will do our best to get a line over there if everything is approved.”

However, a subsequent public meeting saw residents turn that down, according to Fyrk.

About 150 remaining residents at the trailer park must vacate the land by August 1 and remove their units as well. Many said they have nowhere to go.

Impact on schooling

Meanwhile as many as 20 students who currently live at the trailer park attend Red Wing Public School. Director of Education for the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division Robert Bratvold said in an email that some of those children may relocate elsewhere in the Red Wing attendance area while some may move to places in the city and no longer attend the school in the fall.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow