Bylaw restricting RVs has some Pigeon Lake residents feeling forced out
Since 1978, three acres of land in the hamlet of Mulhurst Bay on Pigeon Lake have provided a summer retreat for Dean Oliver's family.
Oliver has been vacationing there since he was 13, eventually watching his own daughter grow up at the lake.
There are four RVs set up on the land: one for Oliver and his family, one for each of his two sisters, and one for his parents, who own the property.
Now his parents have received a compliance letter from Wetaskiwin County that orders them to remove three RVs from their land because an amended land-use bylaw only allows for one.
"It was like somebody in the family died," Oliver said. "My mother was in tears and she's still pretty torn up about it. This is the place where thousands of memories occurred, all of our photo albums are filled with pictures of things that happen out there."
Rod Hawken, assistant chief administrative officer for Wetaskiwin County, said a 2015 amendment to the land-use bylaw is now being enforced, but only in response to complaints from the public.
The RV rules apply to all areas of the county including Pigeon Lake, Buck Lake, Wizard Lake and agricultural lands, Hawken told CBC News in an email. The new rules were developed and approved by county council over a three-year period, he said.
The letter to the Olivers said they had until Sept. 6 to remove three RVs from their property.
It said landowners with fewer than five acres can only store one RV. For a parcel of between five and 10 acres, two RVs are permitted. For properties of 10 acres or more, three RVs are allowed.
"You can't have a guest with an RV on your lot for more than 14 days at a time," Oliver said. "You can't have your RV hooked up to any services like water, power, or sewage. You can't have any structure around it like a deck or cover. So it eliminates the RV being used as something to live in."
Hawken said the complaint that led to the letter to Oliver's parents originated at a public meeting where a delegation of Mulhurst Bay residents voiced concern "with the number of 'campgrounds' " in the hamlet.
The delegation provided a list of nine properties. Compliance letters are being sent to those landowners, Hawken said.
"There are no provisions to allow landowners an exemption to the rules," Hawken said in his email.
He added that "educational letters" are being sent to all residents of Mulhurst Bay outlining the RV rules for the properties they own so they can "work towards compliance."
Oliver has appealed the order to remove RVs from the family property, and his deadline has been pushed back to Oct. 31. But he says despite the extension, he wants to continue pushing back.
He says blue-green algae has kept people away from the lake in the summer. As a result, he says, many businesses have shut down and homes are for sale.
"Let's face it. That lake is in trouble already, that whole community is in trouble already. It's hurting," he said.
"The last thing the county needs to do is expel effectively hundreds of customers for the local businesses that are still left."
