Despite complaints from some residents in the surrounding community, people living in an encampment of motor homes in North Vancouver say they’re not hurting anyone.
A piece of land encircled by the Upper Levels Highway and Capilano Road, known to locals as "Bowser Island," has received increasing attention over the past several months.
After an overhead image of the site from a real estate photographer was shared on a community Facebook group late last year, concerns have been raised of backed up drainage, fires on site, as well as an accumulation of organic waste and garbage.
But according to people living on the site, and some neighbouring residents who’ve become acquainted with them, the concerns are untrue or exaggerated and are only being raised because those homeowners don’t want the campers there.
District of North Vancouver Coun. Herman Mah said he’s spoken with residents in the surrounding Pemberton Heights neighbourhood, as well as some of the people living on Bowser Island – which gets its name from the adjacent Bowser Avenue.
For him, the main problem is related to road safety.
As drivers travelling eastbound on Highway 1 take Exit 14 toward Capilano Road, almost immediately they zip by a driveway on their right-hand side – the entrance to Bowser Island.
This is a problem because highway drivers don’t expect people to pull out of that driveway, Mah said.
“They’re not expecting people to come out. There’s no signs to warn of a little side street or anything,” he said. “It’s a safety issue for us.”
There used to be homes on the site, which is why the driveway remains, along with other vestiges like a crumbling retaining wall. But leases on the land ran out more than a decade ago, and control of the property returned to the provincial government.
“The Ministry of Transportation [and Transit] wanted to put a salt shed there, but they never got around to it. I’m not sure what their plans are now,” Mah said.
Mah said he’s also worried about environmental and safety issues on the urban island, but that it’s beyond the ability of district bylaws staff to enforce.
Negativity toward campers 'another reason to endorse NIMBY attitude,' neighbour says
But not everyone in the surrounding community shares the same degree of concern, including Sean Wiens, a Pemberton Heights resident of more than 25 years.
Responding to the safety concerns of drivers taking the eastbound highway offramp, the notoriously short westbound onramp from Capilano Road onto the Upper Levels is far more dangerous, he said.
“And that’s not being concentrated on,” Wiens said.
He describes the negativity toward people living in the encampment as “yet another reason to endorse the NIMBY attitude.”
“At first, these were criminals. They were drug addicts. They were leaving their crap everywhere, literally,” Wiens said. “And when I proved all of that wrong, then they would concentrate on the next issue.”
Wiens said he first became acquainted with Bowser Island when he met a person named Jason living there several years ago. Wiens said he eventually started to support him, but that Jason left the property after many of his possessions were destroyed in a fire last March.
Over the past year, others have moved onto the land, several of whom Wiens has also befriended and tried to introduce to other Pemberton Heights residents.
One of the Bowser Island campers Wiens has come to know is Carin Clarke.
Clarke said she’s been living on the North Van property since last June, when a temporary motor home park in an Impark lot closed near CRAB Park in Vancouver.
She leaves Bowser Island in her car early in the morning to work her full-time job, and returns early each afternoon, Clarke said.
The safety issue of drivers speeding through the exit off ramp – which is marked with a 40 km/h limit sign – into a residential area has little to do with the driveway to Bowser Island, she said.
“I [suggest] putting a sign that says ‘hidden driveway’ will allow people to realize that you’re coming into a residential area, because you should literally only being doing 20 km/h from the second you got off that offramp,” Clarke said. “It has nothing to do with anybody on our driveway.”
Most of the vehicles parked in that driveway in recent months have been transportation ministry workers clearing out a berm on the property, she added.
As for the safety and environmental concerns, Clarke said the campers get rid of their sewage at an appropriate dump, and that most of the waste on the property is left over from the previous RV fire or from the transportation ministry itself.
A garbage bin provided by the ministry for the encampment has mostly been filled with waste by other residents who drive by the lot, she added.
Dumpster provided by transportation ministry 'the wrong message'
Mah said he’s written to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit about the concerns, and doesn’t agree with the decision to add the dumpster.
“I kind of think that’s the wrong message,” he said.
MOTT said it's aware of the provincial highway right-of-way being used as a camping site, and has told people staying there about housing supports available to them.
“The ministry’s current priority for the site is ensuring the safety of those involved and working with support partners,” a ministry spokesperson said.
The ministry didn’t specify what it’s plans are for the future of the site.
North Vancouver RCMP has also attended the site several times, but spokesperson Cpl. Mansoor Sahak said he wasn’t aware of any criminal activity related to people staying there.
Clarke said she lost the last immobile home she was renting around eight years ago when the building caught fire. As for current alternative locations to park her RV, conventional parks are difficult to get into.
“Your unit has to be 10 years old … or younger,” she said. “It’s also $1,200 a month, and there’s a waiting list about three years long.”
For now, Clarke said she and others are content to stay where they are.
“We’re not hurting anybody. We’re not stealing from anyone. We don’t have any open fires,” she said. “Yes, it’s not ideal, and yes, a lot of people have a problem with it, but at this point, what is the solution?”
“There is no housing, and more and more people are actually going into RVs.” Clarke said. “And it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re homeless. It just means that you don’t have an address.”
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