— Pendergraft looking for workable idea —
(OSOYOOS TIMES — Nov. 29, 2006) —
By Julie TurnerrnOsoyoos Times
Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) Area 'A' Director Mark Pendergraft says he is pushing for a policy to help residents facing eviction from mobile home parks which give way to development.
But he adds the policy can only go so far, and developers may find loopholes to avoid paying compensation.
Concerns from mobile home owners at Willow Beach dominated discussion at the recent Community Forum held in Osoyoos. Many people raised the issue of fair compensation for being displaced once the sale of Willow Beach is final.
More than one owner pointed out the one year's notice and one year's free rent (which for Willow Beach residents totals $3,000) are not adequate, adding they feel their homes are worth more according to the taxes they pay every year on the homes' assessed values.
Matt Sterling said homeowners are facing a form of expropriation when one measures the amount of taxes they pay on their homes' assessed values against the small compensation they are given from a landowner who chooses to sell and redevelop the property. A year's pad rent is not a hell of a lot.rnMike De Gelder and his wife Gayle have lived at Willow Beach for just over a year and are still paying off a mortgage on their home. Mike says all the owners have received a note from Willow Beach owner Pearl Quintal, indicating the place had been sold and details would be finalized in March 2007, at which point the homeowners would have a year's free pad rent before having to vacate.
We're hanging in limbo. We don't know what we're going to do. We can't move our unit; nothing over 30 years is allowed into the new parks. He adds that he, like many residents, settled at Willow Beach believing it would be his retirement home.
Another Willow Beach resident, Brad Birch, has suggested creating a new policy whereby landowners would have to pay displaced mobile home owners a flat fee of, for example, $50,000.
Pendergraft assured Birch and others at the forum the RDOS is working on a policy to ensure that home owners are better compensated.
He told the Osoyoos Times last week efforts have been made to come up with something that will work for the mobile home owners.
In short, the policy will require the developer of a mobile home park to submit to the RDOS a Relocation Assistance Plan before the development application will be considered. The plan would tell how they are either compensating the [homeowners] or relocating them.
He cautions, however, that a policy is not a bylaw and there are loopholes. A developer could purchase a mobile home park, evict the tenants and then later come to the RDOS with an application.
In still another scenario, Pendergraft says a landowner could evict the tenants and redevelop something that is allowed under the current zoning where the RDOS would have no input.rnTo Sterling's comment about home assessments, Pendergraft says the point raised about adjusting the assessments on mobile homes has some merit and could be raised with the province.
If they are on a strata development, that is one thing; if they are on a regular rental pad, then they should likely be assessed on their value if they had to be moved.
This would likely mean after a certain number of years the value would be depreciating and the mobile home owners' taxes would be going down every year, as well. It's not direct compensation, but it would all help.
Pendergraft adds he is hopeful the future Willow Beach developers will treat the mobile home owners fairly. I will do my best to see that happens, he says.
