Mobile home park seeks garbage change

A representative of Lodgepole Mobile Home Park asked Sparwood council to consider allowing an alternate garbage collection system for the park during the May 5 regular council meeting.

Fay Martens, who manages the mobile home park, said the park is facing two main issues with its current garbage collection setup.

“Our two main issues are the high costs of garbage fees as well as the ongoing bear problems,” said Martens.

Martens told council the park’s location on the outskirts of town, surrounded by forest and agricultural land, increases the risk of bear activity. She said the high-density nature of the park also adds to the problem because homes are close together.

“You can imagine with 39 garbages lined up 15 meters apart, it’s just a tasty dinner for the bears,” said Martens.

Martens showed council photos of bear damage in the park, including damage to a shed, damage to a plywood garbage enclosure and damaged garbage cans.

“The bear ripped right through it. We now have one made of solid steel. He hasn’t got that one yet,” said Martens.

Martens said garbage fees in Sparwood are increasing and the impact is much larger for the owner of a mobile home park than for a single-family household.

“For a single-family resident, the impact is low. If they paid $25 last year, this year they pay 32 a month. It’s not that big of a deal. But for one owner of a mobile home park to pay 39 garbages is quite significant and a challenge for a small business,” said Martens.

She said Lodgepole could be paying more than $20,000 per year for garbage collection by 2028.

Martens proposed using centralized bins through GFL, with one waste bin in the upper park, one in the lower park and two recycling bins. She said the bins have a bear resistant metal bar and would be much more cost effective if used properly.

Martens said the park would pay approximately $300 per month for the bins, compared with about $1,300 per month for curbside collection.

“That would be a savings of over $1,000 a month,” said Martens.

She said she surveyed residents before bringing the issue to council. Eight of 38 residents responded, with seven in favour of changing to centralized bins and one preferring to continue with curbside pickup.

Martens said the district’s mobile home park bylaw appeared to allow the owner of a mobile home park to arrange garbage disposal or establish depots for garbage collection.

“To me, this implies that the owner has the option of choosing the way they deal with the garbage collection,” said Martens.

She asked council to consider the unique nature of the park.

“I understand that all the residents of Sparwood have to be part of the curbside collection in order for them to fund the program. However, I think a mobile home park is a bit of a unique situation with a large number of people in a small area,” said Martens.

Councillor Steve Kallies thanked Martens for the presentation and said council would not be deciding that evening.

Councillor Sam Atwal said that if the request moved forward, he would like to see a follow-up after one year to determine whether the change reduced animal interactions.

Staff told Martens they would reach out if they needed further clarification.