Residents of a Burton Avenue trailer park who received eviction notices on July 31 are being encouraged to not give up hope.

Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman encourages them to attend Sept. 23 council meeting

Residents of a Burton Avenue trailer park who received eviction notices on July 31 are being encouraged to not give up hope.

Approximately half of the 225 residents from the trailer park at 196 Burton Ave. attended a meeting at Unity Christian High School, Wednesday night, to discuss their options.

The city has received a rezoning and subdivision plan application for the land for 96 street townhouses with the possibility of 20 walk-up units in a maximum three-storey building.

Ward 8 Coun. Arif Khan, Mayor Jeff Lehman and Simcoe County director of social housing Cathy Kytayko listened to concerns and answered questions from the residents, many of whom are worried the investments in their mobile homes will be greatly reduced or lost altogether.

Dino Melchior, of Melchior Management, has been managing the park for 15 years and said the owners previously turned down several offers to sell the land.

Earlier this year, the option to redevelop the land and evict 86 homeowners was made by the numbered Ontario company Melchior represents.

Melchior told the Examiner recently that he and his associate have forwarded several local mobile-home vacancies to the tenants, as well as looking for a trailer mover to take on the large project and offer a volume discount.

“The removal is strictly the responsibility of the tenants,” Melchior said at the time, adding with the $3,000 cost mandated by the Residential Tenancies Act per unit, they're already spending $270,000 to help the tenants move.

Lehman has stated the the city does not have the power to intervene in a landlord-tenant matter.

But during Wednesday's meeting, he told park residents to keep an open mind and consider all their options.

"We don't have a solution, not yet, and the solutions won't be the same for everyone," Lehman told the crowd. "We need to understand your concerns. The reason we are here is because we want to help. We're morally obligated to help.

"We didn't evict you, but we are here to help you," he added.

Khan told the residents at the beginning of the meeting, "it's going to be emotional and we expect that. You are residents of the city and taxpayers in the city. Your concerns are not falling on deaf ears.

"We get it loud and clear that you don't want to move. We'll assist in any way we're allowed to."

Jim Mallyon, who moved into the trailer park with his wife in June 2012, believes he was misled by the property owners.

"Prior to buying our trailer we asked how long the park was going to there. We were told 25 or 30 years and that it wasn't a problem," he told the panel. "Right now I'm looking for a place to move to. I can't afford to just sit here. It will cost $10,000 to $20,000 to move my unit, depending where I can get it moved to."

Park resident Fleur Ottaway runs the Burton Avenue Mobile Home Owners Coalition and said she believes the trailer park tenants should be allowed to stay, adding the development has yet to be approved.

"The evictions aren't valid until there is an approved plan. The city shouldn't approve (the application)," she said.

Mandy Hillyard, a longtime poverty advocate in Barrie and the county, suggested the residents contact the Community Legal Clinic Simcoe/Haliburton/Kawartha Lakes.

"I don't want to see anyone homeless. There is an answer and the answer is in this room," she told the crowd. "This has been a real good start. There is so much emotion behind everything you're saying.

"I don't want you leave here frustrated, I want you leave here hopeful."

Lehman encouraged residents to attend a Sept. 23 council meeting where the applicant will make his application and members of the public will be able to express their views. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

He also encouraged them to submit their concerns in writing by contacting the planning departments will their opinions will become of the record regarding the application.

Source: Barrie Examiner