At the urging of local residents city council denied a zoning amendment to allow the installation of a manufactured home in their Williams Lake neighbourhood.
During a public hearing held Tuesday, March 26, several residents opposed an application from Gerry and Ivy Stanley to allow them to move their single-wide manufactured home to 911 Proctor Street.
Brent Rouse lives nearby at 128 Mayfield Avenue and collected nine signatures on a petition he submitted.
“I am against it,” he told city council during the public hearing.
A trailer will bring down the value of homes around it, he added.
“People have been fixing up their places in our neighbourhood. The right thing to do is not let this happen.”
In his report to city council, planner Hasib Nadvi said the parcel of land came about through a subdivision application in 2018, which Rouse said he raised concerns about at the time.
“My concern was because of the lot sizes that they were going to be too small for someone to build a house. My biggest concern was we didn’t want a trailer there.”
Rouse said when he moved to Mayfield Avenue almost 24 years ago there are two trailers adjacent to the property in question.
“The gentleman that does own the property had one of the older trailers moved out and brought in a new double-wide and made it look nicer for the residents there and we were all happy.”
Another local resident said her concern was that the City has “no controls in place” as to what type of manufactured home will be added to the property.
Read more: City housing crunch leads councillors to pass rezoning application for secondary suites
The applicant, Gerry Stanley, told council he understood the residents’ concerns.
“I did interview the majority of the residents there before I even came forward with the proposal, understanding there was no point in bringing forth something for you to waste your time on,” he said, noting there were some people away from the neighbourhood that he did not connect with.
“I did not do this to put something over on anybody,” Stanley added.
He said he has lived in the community since 1975 and would never move to a place and “actually devalue it.”
His plan was to move his updated and renovated modular home there.
“I have not done the exterior yet because I was going to do that on moving it. I purchased the materials to do that. It is not going to be a junkie old mobile home. It’s not new, but it does meet City standards. As a builder and renovator I’m fully capable of doing that and that is my intention.”
Responding Rouse said many people in the neighbourhood were never contacted by Stanley about the application, including him.
In the end, council unanimously voted against the application.
Coun. Craig Smith said he would not support it because it is a skinny piece of property and because the neighbours were not in favour.
Agreeing, Coun. Ivan Bonnell said he wanted to act on the wishes of the residents,
There was another application for a zoning amendment to add manufactured home for a lot at 3018 Edwards Drive on the agenda.
In the report to council, Nadvi noted the applicant is seeking an amendment to the R-2 zone to allow for a second dwelling being a manufactured home on the property. The applicant has indicated that the additional dwelling would enable her family members to live close and take better care of her.
Council gave first and second reading. It will now go for a public hearing on April 30 at 7 p.m. and notices about the application will go out property owners and tenants within a 100-metre radius.
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