‘My home too’: Vernon trailer park owner seeks deal to keep power on

The deadline is approaching for the owner of a Vernon trailer park, but she’s still trying to cut a deal.

Carole Goldstone, who owns and lives at Crown Villa mobile home park, will see the power cut if its deteriorating electrical system isn’t overhauled. The province’s utility regulator found the trailer park’s ageing system is too dangerous and gave her until April 10 to replace it.

The decision has forced owners in the mobile home park to find new homes or face life without power and running water. Their trailers are too old to be moved elsewhere.

The repairs are simply too costly and and the trailer park’s owner is looking for a partner to help with the costs.

“I’m using my land title as collateral to get a partner, and I’ve reached out to somebody. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Goldstone told iNFOnews.ca.

“So, let’s put it this way. We’re working on it, but it’s not an easy thing to do. This is a lot of money. My home is on this property too, so I’m going to be without power and water just like the tenants.”

According to Goldstone, repairs at the property have mounted over the years and she couldn’t keep up, with some major costs like a $40,000 well and Interior Health’s imposition of a $20,000 septic system in recent years.

Meanwhile, she has been reluctant to raise rents for the residents, many of whom are seniors on fixed incomes or low-income families.

A 25-year Crown Villa resident previously told iNFOnews.ca she would have welcomed an increase in rent over the years if it meant maintenance was done at the mobile home park.

Goldstone kept the rates low to support the residents, and turned away a potential buyer recently on the same principle. She was concerned the buyer would want to evict the current residents.

“You can’t just buy me, you have to buy all of us,” she said. “They said to me, ‘It depends on the numbers.’ What does that say to you? It says to me they don’t want the tenants.”

She wouldn’t say who is considering a deal with her to take partial ownership of the property and she’s committed to staying even after the April 10 deadline arrives even if the electrical system hasn’t been repaired.

“The clock is ticking,” she said. “I told everybody they can stay here. They don’t have to leave unless they throw us off, but it isn’t going to be easy because we’re all used to having electricity and water.”

It’s not clear how many people in the 11-unit mobile home park might stay if the power’s cut, but the head of a local non-profit said they are “preparing for worst-case scenario.”

“We’re actively working with the owner, contracting companies… and housing non-pofits. We’re trying to find a solution to this situation with the property owner,” North Okanagan Social Planning Council executive director Roger Parenteau told iNFOnews.ca.

He said it’s a complicated situation, particularly because it’s a private property and it’s unlikely any government funding could be used to support a private mobile home park.

“I’m trying to keep as many options open as possible, but our hands are kind of tied. So, it’s just frustrating,” Parentau said.

While Goldstone said she’s trying to find a solution after years of deterioration at the park, she said the negative attention from news media has been difficult.

“I am not evil. I am not trying to remove people from their homes,” she said. “In the end, it’s hurting all of us.

“To put stories out that I’m throwing people off the land and trying to evict them, that a developer’s going to come in and redevelop it. The problem is it’s good land and we want to live here.”

She took over the property in 1988 after paying $170,000 to her father’s estate. She has lived on the property ever since, now earning a pension and using rent payments for upkeep and expenses at the mobile home park.