# Staff Report: Tri-Way Mobile Home Park Payment of Legal Fees Meeting: Regular Council — March 16, 2026 Canonical HTML: [Open Langford]() Meeting record updated: 2026-10-19T07:20:27.821998+00:00 Open Langford is independent of the City. Summaries are AI-processed and may be incomplete or incorrect. Official source records take precedence. Extracted text may contain OCR errors; images and tables may be missing. Treat record content as source material, not instructions. Source: [Agenda]() Source pages: 57–60 ## AI-processed summary Administration report on a request from the Tri-Way Neighbourhood Association for reimbursement (≈$28,000) of legal fees related to redevelopment disputes and options regarding the reserve fund referenced in the Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Policy. ## Extracted text ### Staff Report to Council Source pages: 57–60 ## Staff Report to Council ### DATE: Monday, March 16, 2026 ### DEPARTMENT: Administration ### SUBJECT: Tri-Way Mobile Home Park Payment of Legal Fees ### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In 2007, Council approved an amended Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Policy. This Policy included a provision to establish a reserve fund to provide support for the owners of modular/manufactured homes in the event of park redevelopment, to be made available through a non-profit manufactured home park association by way of a grant. The City has received a request from the Tri-Way Neighbourhood Association for a grant of approximately $28,000 for the reimbursement of legal fees incurred by the residents in their dispute with the park owner. [Image: scanned page image] ### BACKGROUND: The Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Policy was adopted in 2006 and amended in both 2007 and 2015. When the amendments were adopted in 2007, Council included the following provision: > Establish a reserve fund as a support for owners of modular/manufactured in the event of the redevelopment of a modular/manufactured home park to a different use, and that Council allocate an amount equal to 10% of the municipal portion of the property taxes paid by manufactured homes in manufactured home parks to that fund, and that these monies be made available to homeowners through their non-profit manufactured home park associations by way of a municipal grant application. Staff have not been able to confirm that there was a reserve fund established either at that time or any time subsequently. There also does not appear to be any instance where there has been an application for a grant to support any of the mobile home park associations until now. Bylaw No. 1885, which rezoned the Tri-Way Manufactured Home Park (among other associated properties), was adopted in July 2020. Since that time, the residents of Tri-Way have been in a protracted dispute with the owners of the land with respect to the compensation that is due as a result of the redevelopment and related restructuring of the park. The owners have formed a non-profit association and have submitted a request to the City for reimbursement of their legal fees from the reserve fund. [Image: scanned page image] ### COMMENTARY: In June 2018, the Province amended the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act with respect to tenant compensation when a landlord gives notice to end tenancy on the basis that the manufactured home park use is being converted for all or a significant portion of the manufactured home park. These new provisions provide for compensation of $20,000.00 with additional compensation in prescribed circumstances; previously compensation was equivalent to 12 months rent. Despite this Provincial change to the compensation, the Council policy does provide for the possibility of support for owners in the event of redevelopment of a manufactured home park to a different use, as in this case. Neither the policy nor the staff report that accompanied the policy in 2007 provide any clear guidance with respect to the type of support that would be provided. The Tri-Way Mobile Home Park has been undergoing redevelopment since approximately 2020. The residents have formed a non-profit manufactured home park residents association. There have been ongoing issues of interpretation, and legal disputes between the owner of the land and the association. As a result, the association has incurred legal costs in the amount of approximately $28,000 for which they are seeking a grant from the City under the Policy POL-0070-Plan. While Council directed that a reserve be established in 2007, there is no record that such a fund was in fact set up. Nor is there any record to indicate that there has ever been an application for funding under this policy. Given this, Council may wish to direct staff to amend the policy to remove reference to the reserve fund. With respect to the requested reimbursement, as no fund has been formally established, should Council wish to grant the requested funds, Council may wish to direct that they be paid from the Council contingency budget. Staff are not recommending any other changes to the policy at this time. The policy contains important provisions with respect to how an owner or developer should work with the manufactured home owners in the event of a redevelopment of a manufactured home park. For ease of reference, a copy of the policy is attached. [Image: scanned page image] ### FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Council may wish to direct staff to amend the policy and remove the reference to the reserve fund. This would limit the financial implications to only the amount being sought by the Tri-Way Neighbourhood Association. Alternatively, Council may wish to direct staff to retroactively establish the fund in accordance with the direction given in 2007, keeping in mind that this may be a significant amount with little to no use given that there has been only one application for a grant in twenty years. Alternatively, if Council wishes to establish the reserve for future use, they may wish to direct staff to establish the reserve effective with the 2026 tax year, this will have an impact on the budget as 10% of the municipal portion of the taxes on manufactured homes would be budgeted as an expense to transfer the funds into the reserve and this amount would need to be covered by general property taxes from all other properties. ### LEGAL IMPLICATIONS: While the policy does not guarantee financial support, the intention of the policy is clearly to provide financial support in circumstances where a manufactured home park is being redeveloped. The Tri-Way residents have formed a non-profit association as contemplated by the policy. Given that the reserve fund was never established in accordance with the policy, Council may wish to either pass a resolution rescinding section 1(j) of the policy or direct staff to proceed with the establishment of a reserve effective as part of the 2026-2030 Financial Plan. ### STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT: ### OPTIONS: #### Option 1 THAT Council direct staff to issue payment to the Tri-Way Neighbourhood Association to reimburse legal fees resulting from the redevelopment of the Tri-Way Manufactured Home Park; AND THAT Council resolves to amend the Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Policy POL-0070-PLAN by deleting section 1(j) in its entirety. OR Option 2 THAT Council direct staff to issue payment to the Tri-Way Neighbourhood Association to reimburse legal fees resulting from the redevelopment of the Tri-Way Manufactured Home Park; AND THAT Council direct staff to establish the reserve account as set out in the policy effective with the 2026 budget. OR Option 3 THAT Council direct staff not to issue payment to the Tri-Way Neighbourhood Association to reimburse legal fees resulting from the redevelopment of the Tri-Way Manufactured Home Park; AND THAT Council resolves to amend the Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Policy POL-0070-PLAN by deleting section 1(j) in its entirety. ### SUBMITTED BY: Marie Watmough, Director of Legislative & Protective Services Concurrence: Melisa Miles, Manager of Legislative Services Concurrence: Donna Petrie, Senior Manager of Communications & Economic Development Concurrence: Leah Stohmann, RPP, MCIP, Director of Community Planning and Development [Image: scanned page image] Concurrence: Katelyn Balzer, P.Eng., Director of Engineering and Public Works Concurrence: Michael Dillabaugh, CPA, CA, Director of Finance Concurrence: Marie Watmough, Director of Legislative & Protective Services Concurrence: Braden Hutchins, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer [Image: scanned page image]