Trailer Court residents are calling on city council to snip the strings attached to their revamped land-levelling program.
Council recently reinstated funding for limestone and black dirt to be delivered to mobile-home owners whose properties are sinking in the muskeg.
But it comes with a catch: residents must prove that their trailer has been jacked up in order to get the fill.
Bernard Dunbar, a Trailer Court resident, said that makes no sense since residents usually need the fill for their sinking driveways.
“They might as well have just said no (to reinstating the fill),” said Dunbar.
Another mobile-home owner said he has never heard of anyone getting limestone for site settling underneath their trailer.
Petitioners approached council in October after learning the latest municipal budget ended the years-old practice of free fill deliveries for the Trailer Court.
Mayor George Fontaine said he remembered the petitioners talking about jacking up their trailers, not needing fill for their driveways.
If the emphasis is on driveways, the mayor said, then council will have to discuss how they feel about that.
Coun. Bill Hanson said he spoke with some Trailer Court residents and advised them council would review the matter.
On Dec. 1, the city sent a notice to Trailer Court residents stating: “Please be advised that landscaping materials will be provided as per past practice, upon proof that the trailer has been jacked up, re-levelled, and fill is required for re-landscaping due to site settling.”
Dunbar and other residents argue that fill is a municipal responsibility since the city owns the Trailer Court while residents merely rent the land.
Dunbar, a retiree, said council’s actions would have been more understandable had they said they were experiencing financial problems and asked residents to do without limestone if possible.
The total cost of fill deliveries to the trailer court was averaging about $15,000 a year, but only a portion of that amount related to residents who specifically phoned for fill.
