The roving tent city that has been set up around the region for the past several months has re-emerged at the Saanich municipal complex.
It is near the spot that Saanich officials had offered up to B.C. Housing for modular homes for people in need. B.C. Housing rejected the offer, citing the location’s steep slope, which it said would be difficult to build on.
Saanich police said the land is owned by the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and as such, Saanich's bylaw on camping in parks does not apply. The bylaw allows temporary overnight sheltering in 102 of Saanich’s parks between the hours of 7 p.m. and 9 a.m.
Box trucks and other vehicles rolled into the site about 4 p.m. as campers moved from their most recent stop — private property on West Saanich Road.
The new spot has some good features, said camp leader Chrissy Brett.
“There’s some green space and one of those cement barriers and a walking path,” she said.
“We came up with the idea of just going where they said they’d put modular housing, because if we’re there and the modular housing can’t go in, we’re right by the bathrooms, we’re right by the fire department, we’re right by the police department. We’re not right by any houses.”
A hygiene station with washrooms and showers and a storage facility remain open for use from 7 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. at Saanich Municipal Hall.
Brett said it was decided to take what she called a less-controversial approach to setting up camp, steering away from park areas.
By early evening, tents had been set up on a strip of grass next to the Patricia Bay Highway and in the municipal parking lot, and a motor home was in the lot, as well.
Police officers and firefighters were keeping a watchful eye on what was happening.
“This has probably caught them off guard,” Brett said.
She said there is still a solid core group of campers.
“We still have 25 that were in and out on a regular basis,” she said of the West Saanich Road camp, and four others have been looking to join.
The move from West Saanich Road eased the concerns of a number of neighbours who weren’t happy with having the camp in their rural area. Landowner Sam Seera, who had reached an agreement with the campers that they would leave by Friday, said he is ready to “start fresh” after a stressful time.
He said he doesn’t mind having spent some money, including $600 for a portable toilet and sink, $400 for food and $250 to rent a pair of U-Haul trucks for the move. “I had to do it.”
Seera said he is not expecting to have to worry about doing a cleanup. “They didn’t make a mess,” he said.
The campers made their way to Seera’s property after being invited by Saanich mayoral candidate David Shebib, whose son is a renter there. Prior to that, camp locations included Regina Park and land off Ravine Way in Saanich, and Goldstream Provincial Park in Langford.
Brett suggested that Regina Park or the Ravine Way site could be suitable options for modular housing.
