Trailer park residents fear forced removal
Last Updated: Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 7:01 AM AT
CBC News
Approval for a condominium on the site of Idlewheels Trailer Court has some residents of the Charlottetown trailer park worried about where they will go when they receive eviction notices.
'You're going to lose your homestead.'— Irene Saunders
The trailer park on Mt. Edward Road has been a neighbourhood fixture for many years, mostly hidden from the street by mature trees. But the owner, L and A MacEachern, has other plans for the property. It wants to build a condominium. Some of the residents fear when that happens, they won't be able to sell their trailers and will have nowhere to go.
"There's nothing anybody can do about it," Irene Saunders, who has been living at Idlewheels for six years, told CBC News this week.
"You're going to lose your homestead. It's not very nice what they're doing to us. If I knew that, I would never have moved here in the first place."
Council rejected plans
City council rejected plans for apartments on the trailer-park land in February. At the time, Saunders thought her worries were over. But unbeknownst to the residents, L and A MacEachern appealed the city's decision to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, and won.
'My property value is going to go down.'— Lynn McArthur
L and A MacEachern owner Ken MacEachern said he doesn't know when the apartments will go up.
Saunders said she doesn't know what she will do when she gets her six-month notice to leave, because she says all the mobile home parks she has looked into are full.
Resident Elwood Coakes also worries he will have nowhere to go, and doesn't know what he will do with his trailer.
"Just give it to somebody, or put it on somebody's land and sell it. It's better than bulldozers taking it away," said Coakes.
Some neighbours are also concerned about the plans.
Lynn McArthur and her husband own three houses across from the trailer park. She says the new development will bring too much traffic and garbage with it.
"My property value is going to go down," she said.
"It's going to be really hard to sell, because eventually these are all going to go apartment buildings down this street."
The city has not appealed IRAC's decision, but the public will get one more chance to comment when the developer applies for a building permit.
Share Tools
Latest Prince Edward Island News Headlines
- Liquor store discussion heats up legislature
- The Opposition raised questions in the provincial legislature Friday over the decision to close the Wood Islands liquor store. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- While reaction continues to brew over Thursday's announcement about changes to the Employment Insurance program, P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz says provincial officials will be meeting with the federal government to discuss how the new rules will affect Islanders. more »
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- Although the proposed harmonized sales tax is good for business, it will hit low-income Islanders the hardest when it's rung in next April, said economists. more »
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Charlottetown's Fred Hyndman was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada Friday. more »
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The husband of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest on Saturday says his family is not seeking government help to cover the cost of bringing his wife's body home. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Serial carjacker gets life term for fatal crash
- An Ontario judge was moved to tears while delivering a life prison sentence to a serial carjacker who killed a woman and injured five others after driving a stolen van into her car during a 2010 police chase. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- P.E.I. quality of life second-worst, says study
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- 902 numbers running out in N.S., P.E.I.
- Islanders worried over EI changes
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Atlantic Lottery replacing old VLTs
- Tourism P.E.I. handed out $60,000 in free golf passes
- Red Shores Raceway's fastest horse put down

