You aren't allowed to live in your RV year round, regional district warns
'People are doing things like installing wood-burning stoves ... they're really moving in'Andrew Kurjata · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2019 7:33 PM PT | Last Updated: an hour ago
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District says an increasing number of people are living in RVs and trailers year round, in violation of local bylaws. (Thompson-Nicola Regional District)[size=0.625]47
comments
RVs are not houses and old campers are not cabins. That's the message from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, which is cracking down on the use of recreational vehicles as permanent dwellings in B.C.'s Interior. Regina Sadilkova, the director of development services for the district, said people living in recreational vehicles are an ongoing problem, but one that seems to be growing.
"There's always more and more used recreational vehicles that may not be roadworthy for sale for less and less money. so they buy them, they park them," she told CBC Daybreak Kamloops guest host Rob Polson. "Then they start building onto them: Decks, porches, roofs."
'Well, you gotta have a home': Inside the private lives of van dwellers
Sadilkova said aside from being unsightly, the souped-up dwellings fail to comply with the standards required for permanent homes, such as having a proper sewer or septic hookup. She also said many of the vehicles are parked along lakes or rivers, which poses environmental concerns. Finally, she said that unlike a new out-building or home expansion, RVs and trailers do not add to property values, so the regional district is missing out on revenue it needs to operate. Affordable housing or an eyesore?Across the country, local governments have been grappling with how to handle people moving into recreational vehicles on a permanent basis.
A Calgary man managed to pay off $85,000 in debt by moving into a trailer and parking outside big box stores or industrial areas around the city. In Saskatchewan, the Rural Municipality of Mervin changed its zoning bylaw so that landowners living in trailers or campers have to apply for a $200 permit to stay on some lakeside properties. And in B.C., the rise of RV dwellers has been documented as a response to growing real estate prices in the Lower Mainland.
Several vans and RVs on Glen Drive in Vancouver are creating garbage and safety problems, some local businesses say. (CBC)
But that rise has come with an increase in the number of garbage, rats and other problems, according to residents of neighbourhoods where RVs congregate. Sadilkova said the regional district would work with social agencies to find placements for people who are genuinely unable to afford a place to live in the Thomson-Nicola region.
But, she said, most of the people she's found violating the rules do have the means to live elsewhere and are simply choosing not to. She warned that people living in recreational vehicles are subject to tickets of up to $250, and that repeat offenders could be taken to court. Sadilkova also said that, while in the past the regional district has only responded to complaints about people living in RVs and trailers, its elected board of directors have now directed staff to be more proactive in enforcing regulations as illegal dwellings grow in number — and in size. "People are doing things like installing wood-burning stoves," she said. "They're really moving in."
| 
發表於 2019-8-15 08:37
|