By Mike D'Amour
News Leader Pictorial
 Apr 07         Jeff Bird is a movin' man with strong arms and a heart of gold,  according to a group of mobile home owners who say they’re being forced  from a Shawnigan Lake park.
 

The owner of Island Moving said he heard the story about residents of 12  mobile homes being forced to vacate Bellendean Mobile Home Park. Bird  has offered to move one or all to any area in the Cowichan Valley - for  free. "I've been a resident of Shawnigan Lake for many years and am  feeling disgusted by what is happening," he said. "This is a devastating  blow to the community and the families who have invested their life  savings and now stand to lose their homes."
 

"I would really like to help out, so I'm extending an offer to these  mobile home residents for my company to move their belongings at no  charge if they're moving within the Valley." Bird said he knows some of  the residents in the park and that prompted the generous offer. "What an  awful thing to face," he said, adding many at the park  will still have a mortgage and no place to live." "I feel bad for these  people, some who seem to be down and out - how can they possibly afford  to go somewhere else?"
 

That's a question being asked by many in the park who said they think  the landlord wants to get rid of people from the park in order to build  on the land. All residents were given 12 months notice to move in  February from the property which is already zoned as residential. "That  tells me (the owner) wants to build a house or subdivide the property  for condos or something," said Eula Sagaskie, a 10-year resident of the  park who shares a home with her cancer-stricken hubby, Peter. The  landowner, Sylvan Carle, could not be reached for comment Thursday. He  is within his rights to give the eviction notices, but according to a  law that's been in place since 2006 he must also pay each homeowner the  equivalent of 12 months pad rentals. Residents say they have not  received that yet. They have hired a lawyer and said they're hoping he  can arrange to have the rent monies put into a trust until that matter  can be resolved. Sagaskie, who still owes $50,000 on the couple's  double-wide, said it would cost her about $20,000 to move the trailer.  That's money most of the people in the park simply don't have.
 

Meanwhile, while the cost of moving her home remains a problem, Sagaskie  is beaming at Bird's offer to move its contents. "I really didn't know  people like him existed anymore," she said. "He's the light we were  looking for." Bird said he only has one request, and that's to ask  people in the trailer park to have their stuff packed and ready to go  when he and his men arrive.   
(250) 383-5376 (Victoria BC)
(250) 743-3733 (Duncan / Mill Bay / Cowichan Valley BC)
Email: islandmoving@shaw.ca