
It’s been three years today since the Boston Flats trailer park near Cache Creek burned down, and plans are now underway to rebuild it.
Lisa Buchanan with Cole Developments, a family-owned company in B.C., says the new park will have 60 units.
The previous park with 51 units was destroyed by the Elephant Hill wildfire, on July 7, 2017.
“It was a horrible loss, we had a beautiful little village down there. And our intent always was to rebuild. But in the process of rebuilding, we don’t necessarily have deep pockets. The cost of redoing the road down into the park, and water and septic was just cost-prohibitive.”
Buchanan says the cost to rebuild the road alone, from Highway 97C to the park, would be $750,000. She says before the fire, her family had just spent $135,000 to redo the water and septic systems, and rebuilding those systems in the same spot would’ve been $1.2 million.
“I think for the purpose for the tenants and stuff, our initial gut reaction was that we have to rebuild this as soon as we can, we have to provide them homes. You kind of have a loyalty to the people who live there. But then reality sets in. You get the bill for the demolition, and we had insurance, but insurance never covers you like you think it’s going to cover you.”
She explains they sat on the rebuilding plans for some time.
“The (Thompson-Nicola Regional District) had wanted our property for an eco-depot, but that didn’t pass,” Buchanan says, referencing a proposal that played out last year. “So in the process of looking at the property at the top, Lot A, it started us thinking, what can we do up there? And so then we kind of thought, well I wonder if we’d be able to relocate the park from down below up to Lot A.”
She says the new park will further uphill from the Bonaparte River, and adjacent to the highway.
Her company is in the process of getting approval to rezone a 4.5-hectare portion of the property, which would pave the way for the new trailer park. A public hearing has already taken place, and TNRD board members are expected to vote on adopting a bylaw to the rezone the property on July 16.
Buchanan says assuming the rezoning were approved, the specific timeline for rebuilding would then be worked out.
(Photo: Ryan Lake)