A group of people living in motorhomes along a street in a northeast Calgary industrial park are still living in limbo as a back and forth with the city continues.
Officials with the Calgary Parking Authority made a surprise stop at the camper community on Moraine Road Northeast Monday afternoon and issued the nine motorhomes temporary parking permits that expire in one month.
Victor LaRock, who has lived in his RV along the street for the last decade, called the move “a complete shock” and said he doesn’t know what will happen when the permits expire on Nov. 21.
“We’re upended wondering what the heck is going to happen,” LaRock told Global News. “We’re not moving. We’ve already stated this. We’ve already been told we don’t have to move.”
The RVs were granted a temporary extension one month ago after city officials attempted to make the street a permanent no-parking zone in early September.
The situation even led to a face-to-face meeting with motorhome residents and Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who represents the area.
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“People are struggling; more and more people are moving into RVs. We’re trying to survive outside of living in tents because tents are killing people,” LaRock said. “We need to survive. We can’t afford housing.”
The temporary permits, issued at no cost to the residents, allow for temporary RV parking in the curb lane along the 300 and 400 blocks of Moraine Road Northeast.
The permits also include a list of conditions prohibiting the obstruction of the street, sidewalk and boulevard for storage of materials, and safe traffic access on the road must be maintained at all times.
LaRock said he neatly stores his wood and propane on the boulevard, which he also mows in the summer months, and called the conditions both “targeted” and “nitpicking.”
“Where do I put my firewood? I have a wood-burning stove, I don’t have a furnace. How do I stay warm?” he said. “Sure, I’m allowed to park here, but I can’t survive.”
In an interview with Global News, Chabot said the city is looking at other streets to temporarily move the RVs once the permits expire.
“Likely on a different road and probably in a different community, providing relief to some of the local businesses and also providing a more safe environment,” Chabot said. “Right now that street isn’t safe. There are wider streets in other industrial areas and other industrial areas that would be more suitable and maybe with less traffic.”
Chabot said the ideal situation is a “more permanent location” for the motorhomes, which he said is currently in the works with his colleagues on city council.
“Where and when is something that we will have to negotiate between me, administration and my fellow colleagues,” Chabot said. “It’s not a simple ‘just put them here,’ I have to get seven other people to agree to it.”
According to LaRock, a permanent location is something the motorhome residents are also seeking and willing to pay a more affordable monthly permit to use.
However, LaRock said the residents want to have a say in a permanent solution to the situation as their uncertainty continues.
“No matter how much they like to think they know what we need, they don’t,” he said. “They don’t live in this situation, they don’t live the way we live. They have no idea.”