‘People are going to fight to the bitter end’

Midfield Mobile Home Park closing down on Sept. 30

Cindy MacDonald tends to leave her curtains closed, so she doesn’t have to see what’s happening to her cherished inner-city community.

Now that the snow has melted, the demolition crews have returned and she can hear them annihilating her neighbours’ homes.

“It’s very depressing,” MacDonald said. “I don’t want to see it.”

With exactly six months left before the city-owned Midfield Mobile Home Park is scheduled to be shuttered on September 30, the once-bustling neighbourhood is literally disappearing.

Doug Cassidy, director of real estate and development services at the city, said nearly half of the trailer pads in the 183-pad park are today vacant.

City figures show 33 homes have been moved out of the park and 47 homes have been demolished since the closure was announced in 2014.

That leaves 103 mobile homes still standing in the 49-year-old park on 16th Avenue N.E. All need to be moved or destroyed in the next six months.

“We continue to work with residents to facilitate where we can,” Cassidy said.

“Many of the residents have worked independently, in terms of either moving their units or making plans to move otherwise.”

Cassidy said he’s confident all 183 spots at Midfield will be empty by the end of September — more than three years after residents received notice the city was forcing them to move from a community many have called home for decades.

But some longtime residents have already publicly stated they’re not moving from the location they love that’s close to services including banking, medical care, and groceries.

“There are people that are going to fight to the bitter end,” MacDonald said.

In May 2014, Midfield tenants received letters stating effective Sept. 30, 2017, the mobile home park would close because the park’s aging water and sewer pipes were unsalvageable.

In addition, they were told city council had decided not to relocate citizens to the Calgary’s outskirts and build a new mobile home park known as East Hills Estates, a plan previously discussed with residents.

With few vacant pads at the other mobile home parks left in Calgary, MacDonald said many Midfield residents who’ve opted to move, instead of demolish their homes, are taking the structures outside of city limits.

Midfield tenants pay a monthly mobile-pad rental fee and the city offered eligible tenants a lumpsum payment of $10,000 to leave and a maximum of $10,000 toward the costs incurred to move their mobile home, as well as counselling services.

Cassidy said while the amount of money paid out to date is confidential, all residents that have moved have received money, in accordance with the Midfield Closure Program.

The remaining residents continue to receive assistance from the city in finding a new place to live, said Cassidy, noting a housing fair is scheduled for June.

Cassidy said after the September deadline, the city will start working to remove the site’s underground utilities and prepare the land for grading work.

The future of the highly desirable inner-city land, which boasts spectacular views and is located near amenities, schools and parks, hasn’t yet been revealed.

“There’s planning work that’s necessary and that work needs to happen before any redevelopment of the land occurs,” Cassidy said.