A group of residents facing eviction from their cottages in Port Moody don’t plan on leaving quietly. But their homes will be saved from the wrecking ball…for now.
Seven small cabins line the Belcarra waterfront. Their inhabitants have been in them for decades, but after several extensions and appeals they’re being evicted.
Metro Vancouver has plans to develop the site.
“As we go through and continue to destroy heritage, we lose those living vestiges of what really is that typical life that we need to have in shares for not only our generation but generations to come,” said Robert Simons, Port Moody Heritage Society president.
However, some residents told Global News recently they have no intentions of leaving.
“Why would they move us out at the end of June when possibly they could reconsider and move us out at a time when it wasn’t so sensitive,” said Jo Ledignham, who has lived in one of the cabins for 50 years. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
The district says the seven cottages are in a state of disrepair and don’t meet building codes.
It wants to use the space to open up parks with waterfront access.
Metro Vancouver acts as a landlord to the locals, who are given a one-year lease each year that allows them to stay in the dwellings.
WATCH: Residents don’t plan on leaving by the deadline.
Instead of going ahead with demolition, Metro Vancouver has agreed to take another look at the site in September.
“They weren’t willing to move off the eviction order which is going through for this weekend,” Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay, told Global News.
– With files from Jill Bennett
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