Eviction comes in Boissevain trailer court land deal

BOISSEVAIN — Residents are vacating a Boissevain trailer park this week to clear the way for an expansion of a manufacturing business.

Four households in the Buckingham East Trailer Court have reached their eviction dates after more than a year of talk and warning. The Municipality of Boissevain-Morton is helping residents move, as it intends to sell the land to Western Archrib for an industrial expansion.

Resident Cheryl Nelson told the Sun that she and her husband are moving to Brandon as a result of the eviction. The couple was looking at more than $10,000 in costs to move, so they decided to spend that to get to Brandon, where they planned on moving eventually.

Nelson and her husband said they would have stayed in Boissevain had there been more support through the move, but they felt they weren’t shown enough respect during the process. Nelson said a downside for the community is that her husband, a working nurse, something rare in small communities, will be leaving Boissevain because of the eviction.

The trailer court residents who are being evicted were renting land owned by the municipality; however, in the last two years the land has been eyed for the business expansion. The municipality warned the residents more than a year ago, and is now assisting three households to move to Buckingham West Trailer Court, which is about 200 metres down the road.

The evictions come after a formal letter was issued this spring.

Head of Council Judy Swanson told the Sun the municipality is supporting residents in the move because it’s understandable that it is an inconvenience.

“People that have been asked to move, they’re not going to be happy,” Swanson said. “But we’ve done everything we could.”

The Municipality of Boissevain-Morton is providing a two-day hotel stay, a small cash sum, and a complimentary moving company to assist with the relocation for residents that are moving from the east to the west trailer court, Swanson said. The residents were also given first choice at the new trailer court plots that the municipality built at the west end.

Boissevain wanted to ensure Western Archrib could fulfill its expansion in town, so that the business, which employs roughly 70 full-time workers, did not leave the community, Swanson previously told the Sun.

“We really want them to maintain their footprint,” Swanson said at the time. “It helps lock in their investment in our community, which will help them continue to grow and provide.”

The municipality worked out a deal to rejig its trailer courts, relocate residents and free up that space for the business expansion. The evictions are a tough stage of the process, but the municipality has to follow through, she said.

“There’s no option for us as a municipality. We need to move forward.”

The tenants are asked to leave by the end of this week, however it is unknown when Western Archrib will begin expansions at the property. The Sun reached out to Western Archrib to ask about expansion plans, but was not able to get information before press time.

Because it’s coming up on winter, Swanson said she expected nothing to happen before next spring.

The project to tear down the east trailer court and build up the west created an additional four to six spots for mobile homes in Boissevain, Swanson said. An additional six sites are possible on the property, but are yet to be developed.

Some residents previously complained about the deal, however, saying it caught them by surprise. A neighbour across the street from Buckingham East Trailer Court told the Sun they received a real estate projection that the value of their home would decrease by at least 10 per cent as a result of putting an industrial complex in front of their home. The residents, Rhonda and Shawn Kleebaum, complained they were not consulted as part of the project.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com