Intervention by Squamish's Member of Parliament wasn't enough to keep a local trucker from being evicted Monday (Feb. 28) from land he's leasing from the District of Squamish.
Darren Doak of JR Trucking Ltd. says he can't move his company off District-owned property by the end of this month and he can't believe local lawmakers won't give him more time to vacate.
The company has been leasing the land on Loggers Lane near the Mamquam Blind Channel at a rate of $6,496.78 a year.
The company, along with Burritt and Son Trucking Ltd. next door, was told in 2003 by the DOS the land had to be vacated by the end of February 2004. That deadline was extended last year to Feb. 28, 2005.
The Burritts and Doak lobbied for more time to vacate the properties but the requests were rejected.
Doak was surprised to learn on Feb. 16 his neighbours were then granted an extension to May 31 of this year with several restrictions on use of the property.
Knowing his neighbours received an extra three months to clear their site, Doak decided to write a letter making one more request for an extension to his lease while he finalized a deal he is negotiating to move the JR Trucking operations base.
Doak also enlisted the help of MP John Reynolds, who wrote Mayor Ian Sutherland in support of Doak's application for a lease extension Tuesday (Feb. 22).
"It is my understanding that an extension is being seriously considered for Burritt and Son Trucking to May 31, 2005 and due to the original representations that were made in concert with one another, I would ask that special consideration be given to granting an extension to Darren Doak as well," Reynolds wrote.
Despite the support from the senior Conservative Party MP the request was denied by District of 樱桃视频Council in an in camera meeting Tuesday (Feb. 22).
In a letter to Doak, District Manager of Administrative Services Trudy Coates reiterated Doak must clear everything off the site by 6 p.m. on Monday (Feb. 28).
Doak said there is no way he can clear the property by the deadline.
"They are going to have to come and do it themselves because this is so wrong to issue one an extension and not the other," Doak said. "When I'm gone [from the site] I'm going to monitor that property day by day."
One of the reasons the DOS wants Doak off the land is so the property can be converted to a parking lot to serve the Adventure Centre across the street and Rose Park to the south.
On May 6 and 7 Rose Park will be one of the venue locations for the Wild at Art Festival and the land currently occupied by JR Trucking is to be used for parking.
Mayor Ian Sutherland told The Chief the Burritt lease was extended but the JR Trucking lease wouldn't be extended because the JR site has a different overall impact compared to the Burritt site.
The JR Trucking lease land is larger and located directly adjacent to Rose Park.
Doak believes there may be more to it.
"Is this retaliation for flying a campaign banner?" Doak asked in reference to his decision to put an election banner on one of his trucks during the 2002 municipal elections. Doak didn't support 樱桃视频New Directions and said he wonders if he is paying for that now.
"I am so appalled that the district would negotiate privately with one company when all previous meetings and the eviction notice concerned both companies," Doak said. "This is far from fair."
As part of his clean-up efforts, Doak needs a demolition permit to bring down his buildings. He does not plan to take out a permit and is choosing instead to let the DOS do the cleanup work. He expects to be billed for the work the DOS does.
