Approximately 30 construction workers occupying one single-family home in Grandin will be moving to new locations in the near future, according to the city manager.
Patrick Draper said Tuesday a plan is place with the owner of a Gould Place home to move the 30 tenants to different homes. He was not able to provide an exact date but said it's a “shorter time period than longer.”
“The owner understands that we have bylaws against what was being done and has agreed to find alternative accommodations for these individuals,” Draper said.
Neighbours such as Terri Lee started contacting members of city council after she noticed just how many people had moved into the home. The homeowner, identified as local realtor Trevor Matheson, allegedly told neighbours he had rented the home to two professional couples.
The Gazette left messages with Matheson but they weren't returned.
“Then within a few days we watched truckload after truckload, carload after carload of construction workers move in,” Lee said.
It's led to headaches for local residents as the number of people living at the home swelled from 16 to 27 to 30. Many of the residents drive trucks and were blocking off some driveways or parking in other people's driveways. Lee said many of the occupants work early and start their trucks at 5 a.m., then leave them running for up to 30 minutes. Workers who don't live at the home have shown up at meal times to eat.
While it is quiet during the day when everyone leaves for work, the evenings tend to get loud just from the sheer number of people in the one home.
“We're absolutely not used to that kind of noise and foot traffic,” Lee said. Other neighbours have contacted the RCMP and municipal enforcement regarding noise complaints, she said.
Lee claims Matheson originally explained to neighbours that he had been duped himself. He told Lee and others he would try to “make this right,” but now has allegedly stopped responding to phone calls or text messages.
Draper said the city issued a cease and desist order shortly after it investigated the residents' complaints late last month and have since given Matheson time to find these people new accommodations. Draper said that groups of people are not allowed to live in one home.
“A basic single-family house is to be used for a single family,” Draper said. “You may have visitors and may have a cousin staying with you for an extended period. Whether you buy it or rent it, they are single-family homes.”
Draper said it was clearly not a single family living on Gould Place.
“I'm not sure I could completely describe it as a boarding house, but it was much more like that than a single-family home,” he said.
