A Calgary judge has delayed the eviction of a handful of residents from Midfield Mobile Home Park in the city's northeast but reminded residents that it is a temporary order.
Justice Eamon has allowed residents, who were supposed to leave the park on September 30, to stay until November 22.
The temporary stay will give lawyers time to prepare for a hearing in November, when a permanent decision will be made.
Rudy Prediger has lived at the park for 47 years and says he has no intention of leaving.
“Me, I like a good fight. That’s why I’ll be the last one there, especially if I feel that they’re treating people wrong. If I win the fight for the people, then I also win and I’m going to keep fighting.”
Lawyer Mathew Farrell says that the city’s plan to evict residents is not legal because there's no plan to use or develop the land right now.
“If you needed the place to do something with it then, yeah, okay, it’s your land; you can make them go when you can use it for another purpose. But if you’re not going to be using it for anything, you just don’t want that, those people there, then you can’t throw them out at that time,” he said. The reason why this feels so wrong is because it goes against some of the most fundamental values that we hold dear and I'm talking about the value that everybody is deserving of respect and dignity and equal treatment under the law,"
Back in May 2014, the city made the decision to shut down the park that initially had about 180 homes, citing costs over the water and sewer lines that are over 40 years old.
The city says it will be redeveloping the area as a mixed-use commercial, office and residential development, including some affordable housing but there is no timetable for that development.
About 30 mobile homes are still standing in the park, but only about six or seven residents still live there.
