District of 樱桃视频Council followed Mayor Ian Sutherland's lead and refused a rezoning application for Angelo's Trailer Park this week.
Councillors took the issue one step further at a regular meeting on Tuesday (April 5) and voted unanimously to refuse all trailer park rezoning applications until an affordable housing strategy is in place.
The decision was made in front of an overflow crowd in the council chamber gallery. Most of the people at the meeting were trailer owners.
In passing the vote, Mayor Ian Sutherland noted the current council cannot do anything to bind the next council. The mandate of the current council runs out in November. Sutherland also stressed his belief the district can't force a business to continue operating.
Cameron Chalmers, the district's planning manager, told council work is under way on the creation of an affordable housing strategy. Chalmers expects the study in about four months.
Those who attended the meeting to hear the discussion had mixed reactions. Some were happy while others were concerned the decision simply delays the inevitable.
Sutherland said he felt compelled to work outside the normal process for an application like the one concerning Angelo's Trailer Park because a great deal of uncertainty was hanging over the all of the local mobile home parks.
"It has become clear it is in no one's best interest to follow the process in this case," Sutherland said.
"This is a contentious issue," said Coun. Sonja Lebans. "We need to end the uncertainty."
During council's discussion of the issue, Coun. Raj Kahlon noted the land owner at Angelo's can still evict the tenants and Kahlon called on council to do more to protect those renting trailer pads from being kicked off their rented spaces.
Coun. Corinne Lonsdale said the affordable housing strategy the district produces has to include a plan for mobile homes."They are an important part of the community," Lonsdale said. "For every space we lose we need to replace it."
Coun. Jeff Dawson also expressed concern for the future of trailer owners after Chalmers confirmed that rejected rezoning applications can be resubmitted six months after the rejection.
"The joy of tonight's victory will be replaced by tomorrow morning with the knowledge that in six months minus one day this headache is going to start coming back," said Dawson.
"We didn't want to give false hopes that there would be a moratorium for two years," Sutherland said after the meeting. "We can't do that and anything that went beyond November is not enforceable."
Sutherland thinks the unanimous passing of the motion refusing the Angelo's application will give a lot of ease to a lot of people.One local affordable housing advocate reports the mayor is doing things quietly behind the scenes to deal with the issue.
Wil Croxall says he set up a committee of five people with knowledge and expertise of affordable housing issues at the request of Sutherland. According to Croxall, his committee members are Bill Howard, Tom Casey, MP John Reynolds and Rick Staehli of Pemberton.
Croxall, Howard and Casey are all former directors with a now-defunct society that tried in the 1990s to build an affordable housing development on Crown land in Brackendale.
Staehli is the former head of the Whistler Housing Authority.
Croxall said Sutherland wants to have people he can call to discuss the situation.
"It has been all on the phone and there has been no get together on it," Croxall said. "We're all surprised by what the mayor has done so quickly.
The input of that group has been very helpful," Sutherland said.
"There is some Crown land available, specifically in the Cheekye area that we could use for affordable housing and industrial uses," the mayor said.
The Milia family indicated this week they would not be making any public statements.
