Changing times at Thetis Lake
Plan in works for 45 single-family homes, 14 townhouses on 5 hectares next to park
Pouring rain didn’t stop Lothar Netzel and his partner from having a garage sale outside their mobile home at Thetis Lake Campground and Trailer Park on Friday.
Mobile home residents at the park are facing an eviction next fall, as the owner of the park plans to retire and is in talks with a developer who wants to build 45 single-family homes and 14 townhouses on the five-hectare property.
“We have to get rid of some stuff,” said Netzel, a retired watchmaker who has lived at the trailer park for 20 years. He and his neighbours plan to hold garage sales all weekend.
“We don’t want to leave. It’s basically cheap living, close to a park and we’re comfortable here,” said Netzel, who has built an addition and car port on his 600square-foot mobile home. His home was built in the 1970s, as were several others in the park — and some are not in good shape. “I’m not sure it can even be moved,” he said.
Netzel looked around at other mobile home parks, which are few and far between these days. “No one wants it there,” he said.
There are 17 mobile homes at the park, which has been run by the same family for 40 years. Owner Eric Gieringer is out of the country and couldn’t be reached to comment on the future of the property.
But Netzel said a letter to residents in January laid out a plan and compensation.
They were told the park owners had entered into a sale agreement with the Limona Group, a developer that wants to build homes on the property that borders Thetis Lake Regional Park.
The sale hinges on the development being approved for rezoning from the Town of View Royal. If it goes through, the owner of the campground trailer park has offered each mobile homeowner $10,000 as compensation.
While several owners have agreed to this, Netzel said he and others want to be compensated for the assessed value of their mobile homes, which for him is $28,000.
“What can we do with $10,000?” he asked, pointing to steep house prices and a tight rental market throughout the capital region.
Don Dobbie said he bought his mobile home in 2007 for $44,000 — his foray into home ownership in his early 20s. Over the past 10 years, he has added new siding, installed a new heating system and renovated his kitchen. Last year, he tried to sell the home and had an offer for $89,000, but was told by the landowner no new tenants were being accepted due to the uncertain future of the park and zoning.
“Now they’re offering $10,000. I want the assessed value for my home,” he said, which is $17,000. He said he needs it to start over. “My nest egg is gone. I will go from being a mortgage-free homeowner to a renter in a hard market, with a cat and dog.”
Dobbie said he worries about other owners in the park, some of whom are low-income and have disabilities, with few supports.
He wants View Royal council to match a Langford mobile home land-use bylaw that requires owners whose homes can’t be moved to be compensated with the assessed value of their homes.
Mayor David Screech said that while he sympathizes with the owners, that request is not likely to be met. He said View Royal does not have any mobile home bylaws.
The Thetis Lake property is zoned as a campground and has been able to operate as a trailer park because it pre-dates the town and its rules.
“In my opinion, they have been given a generous offer. More than what’s required by law,” he said. “The owners have told everybody for many years they planned on selling.”
Screech said council did direct the park owner to cover the cost of removing the mobile homes. He said that council has looked at the initial proposal from the developer for the property and offered feedback, namely looking for high-density housing and more green space.
Regardless of whether the development proceeds, the owner of the property, “made it clear that if it doesn’t go ahead, it will still not run as a campground,” Screech said.