The residents of the Jed Stumps trailer court in Kitimat can breath a little easier now that rumours have been put to rest about the future of their home.
Residents had been working off hearsay and rumours following the sale of the property, with many worried they were quickly going to be kicked out, and left with no place to go.
If it turned out they had to leave, many weren’t sure where they would go. Even the trailer court next door to them could only take on four from Jed Stumps, said Avalene Turner at a gathering of concerned residents at the Northwest Community College on October 8.
Turner and Kitimat’s Housing Resource Worker Anne Moyls put together the meeting, which was intended to also include the new owners of the property but, while they couldn’t be there, Mayor Joanne Monaghan and District of Kitimat planner Daniel Martin were to hear concerns and to provide information as needed.
Monaghan was able to relay information she had received from the owners, which was that nothing is happening to the trailer court for at least a year, if even at all. She said the new owner is planning a meeting with residents in the not-to-distant future.
“I think a lot of people relaxed,” said Turner. “The rumours are gone, the gossip is gone.”
She said there’s still a lingering fear of it being shut down after a year but everyone now knows the eventual process of how that would happen, if it were to happen.
“We heard rumours it’s going to be bulldozed, and we’re out of here in a month,” said about the residents prior to their meeting.
So now it’s wait and see what happens after a year.