Residents in Gibsons' Creekside neighbourhood are all for affordable housing, but not the way they see it sprouting up around them.
Neighbourhood residents recently delivered a 73-name petition to the Town of Gibsons' planning committee stating opposition to the number of mobile homes appearing on subdivided lots in the area and what that is doing to aesthetics and, potentially, property values.
Margot Grant, a Tricklebrook Way resident and organizer of the petition, said the Town's lack of bylaws and control are to blame for allowing owners of long strip properties on Steinbrunner Road to subdivide and put in cheap mobile homes for a quick profit.
"Some of these mobile homes and trailers we have here look horrible and we don't want more of this. The whole character of the neighbourhood is changing now from homes to mobile homes without any consultation with residents," Grant said. "I can't stress enough: we are not against affordable housing. We just want aesthetics. We want a nice neighbourhood for everyone."
Grant said she'd like to see the Town bring in bylaws that limit mobile homes or at least the types and conditions of the ones used.
The trouble is with that according to Gibsons director of planning Chris Marshall, is that at the present time, the Town doesn't have the authority to do that.
"The difficulty for the Town on an issue like this is that we can't dictate design of single-family homes," he said. "We can't say the house has to be purple or it has to be a particular size or shape or style. The province doesn't allow municipalities to dictate single-family homes."
He said it would be possible for the Town to designate a neighbourhood specifically for mobile homes, but there is no space in Town to do so at this time.
Marshall said owners of the properties set for subdivision do have the power to dictate a "building scheme" for their properties, but that remains up to the owners. He said he would be in contact with property owners in Creekside to let them know about that option.
Beyond that, Marshall said there are some local governments that do have bylaws relating to the appearance of single-family homes including mobile homes, but it is a "tricky legal ground" to walk.
"I'm going to do some research as to what other communities have done. There may be some ideas that I haven't come across yet. I don't want to close the book on it and say the Town has no teeth or no ability to do anything about it," he said.
Grant said the Town's response so far has been unsatisfactory and she plans to raise the issue at the next planning committee meeting next month. She said some residents are considering appealing their taxes.
"The Town of Gibsons is stalling. The next meeting is in July. Meanwhile the front-end loaders are going and they have all these applications for more subdivision," she said.
