CREMONA – The village's council has tabled a request to substantially expand the privately-owned Cremona Mobile Home Park.
The move came by way of motion on Jan. 21 during a regular meeting after the mayor suggested holding off until a long list of issues have been addressed.
“The (previous) owner of the mobile home park, we’(d) been trying to get a hold of him for over 10 years for the eight years that I was on council,” said Robert Reid.
“He never replied once to all the letters, even registered letters sent by lawyers. We were asking to make an agreement with delivery of water services,” said Reid.
“Since the park is private property and he owns the water distribution system within his park, the town has no access or ability to check for leaks or anything like that,” he elaborated, calling that the main issue.
Per a letter submitted to the municipality by the park’s new owner Simon Kim since last year, the proposed expansion “involves developing approximately 30–35 mobile home pads on a two-acre parcel of land at the front of the park along Highway 22 and an additional 5–10 pads at the back of the park, space permitting.”
However, the mayor said during the meeting that the land is not zoned for a mobile home park.
“The north parcel is urban reserve in the land use bylaw and there’s no designation in the municipal development plan,” he said, adding the south portion is zoned highway commercial.
“So, for anything to be done with mobile homes, it would have to be rezoned,” he said.
Another issue stems from utility right-of-ways as well as water servicing and the municipality’s ability – or rather lack thereof – to monitor the infrastructure.
“The main water pipeline from the wells at the Little Red Deer River comes in along the north of the park and the pipeline and right-of-way proceed south on this property to a water vault and then east across Highway 22 onto the utility right-of-way up First Avenue to a water treatment plant,” explained the mayor.
“The water service line for the park crosses Highway 22 to a waterline vault on the right-of-way on park property and then connects onto the owner’s distribution system.”
The village does provide a water meter for every mobile home in the park, he said.
“But we have no control of the distribution of what’s in the ground, so we have no way of knowing if there are leaks.”
As a result, there was a major leak that had gone unnoticed from 2017 to 2019.
“We originally thought it was a spring,” he said. “But it turned out to be a two-inch waterline that had dumped out hundreds of thousands of gallons of water over a period of the two years, unnoticed and unaccounted for.”
Furthermore, Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors has setback and intersection regulations due to the proximity with Highway 22, he continued.
“Alberta Transportation will require studies on pedestrian and vehicle increase by doubling the size of the park,” he said, adding that geotechnical, topographical, as well as storm water studies would also need to be completed and approved.
Last – but certainly not least – was considering the impact on infrastructure servicing capacity, he said.
“The addition of 30 mobile homes tying into the limited infrastructure of water and wastewater facilities will limit future expansion of single family, duplexes and apartment complexes in the village on the annexed properties.”
While the private mobile home park expansion would generate approximately $25,000 in taxes, the addition of 40 houses, duplexes and apartments would bring in closer to $300,000, he said.
Kim disputes those numbers
Additionally, some 40 mobile homes plus another 40 houses would effectively max out the village’s water and sewer system, he said.
“And the expansion for the water and wastewater facilities would cost anywhere from $3 to $6 million.”
Reid cited all of the issues outlined as why the village is not yet in a position to respond to Kim’s questions and sought a motion to table the matter.
“We have to do a pile of research and we also have to make a water agreement with the park, first and foremost,” he said.
His council colleagues agreed and carried a motion tabling the matter until the July 15 regular meeting to allow time to get more answers.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that Simon Kim is the new owner of the Cremona Mobile Home Park.
