Leaky septic and $20K debt: Vernon trailer park owner at a loss for what to do
Carol Goldstone is hoping a judge will make a reasonable decision about what to do with the Vernon trailer park she inherited in 1988.
A couple of days ago she was served with a court summons. She owes Interior Health Authority $19,699.
"You can look at my financial statements, I don't have it. I'm on a pension and I get a little bit here, not much," she said. "I'm 74, and I have cancer."
Nestled in mature trees and backing onto fields, the Crown Villa trailer park feels like rural living edged on the outskirts of Vernon. With only 10 trailers, it's quiet and peaceful while only a stone's throw from built-up suburbia.
The trailers are on well water and the park has an aging septic system.
It's that septic system which netted Goldstone the $19,699 court order.
In the spring of 2022, the septic system started leaking.
"It stunk, it was like you had 1,000 skunks out here," Crown Villa resident Lisa Cantafio told iNFOnews.ca. "It was really bad."
"We were told its not good for us to be breathing that in. You could smell it from Fulton (school)."
The school is one kilometre away.
Across from Cantafio's trailer, her neighbour Monica Harrison shares the sentiment.
"It was bad, it was leaking all down our driveway and onto Okanagan Avenue," Harrison said.
Harrison said the septic was leaking for about three or four months. By the time it got to June the heat started to make it worse.
Interior Health Authority got involved.
READ MORE: Another Okanagan mobile home park is for sale
In April 2022 it issued a $335 fine to Goldstone for failing to comply with an order to repair the system.
However, instead of piling on the fines, the health authority instead fixed the septic.
"Interior Health can confirm that we did the most comprehensive repairs possible without incurring significantly more cost, which would have been the case with a full overhaul of the entire park," Interior Health said in an email. "Those comprehensive repairs should ensure safe operations for a significant length of time."
Interior Health is now proceeding through the courts to recover the cost.
Goldstone doesn't dispute the bill – or the court summons.
"I'm not going to argue, I owe them money, they fixed it," she said. "Now I think all that can happen is that I can go to court... and we'll let the court decide what they want to do."
And the ancient septic system isn't the park's only issue.
"They want the whole park redone... they want the wiring done, all the septic done, I don't have that kind of money, I don't even have enough to fix it," she said.
Goldstone says she's trying to sell the trailer park, although why she doesn't have it on the market isn't clear.
She says she doesn't want "a bunch of people" coming over.
READ MORE: With demise of mobile home parks in Kelowna, affordable home ownership slips away for many
But could she borrow against the equity of the property to fix the septic and other issues? B.C. assessment values the property, which includes Goldstone's home, at $715,000.
She doesn't entertain the idea.
"I'm 74," she said. "I'd rather the bank take it and sell it."
If the park does sell, it could put the residents in a precarious situation.
"It's super affordable," Harrison said. "It's a nice community."
With pad rates at $265 or $295, it's half the price or even less compared with other trailer parks.
Harrison said she's a little concerned about the place selling.
"I don't want to move, it does worry me, and then where do you go?" she said.
So why is the park in such bad shape in the first place?
Goldstone says the park opened in 1974 and she inherited it in 1988 when her parents died.
She says it never made her any money and the upkeep was too expensive.
"Out of the money I get from this place I have to pay the water, taxes, garbage, it's almost at a point where I'm going to have to get a job to support it," she adds.
"I'd be willing to let someone take it... I've had to do 30 years of this and it hasn't been a pleasant 30 years."
READ MORE: Legal dispute means Shuswap Lake development still empty 16 years later
It's not known what recourse Interior Health will take to recoup its money, but Goldstone has no animosity toward them.
She now has to wait to see what the courts have to say.
Bizarrely though, she seems to take little responsibility for the park's dilapidated infrastructure.
"I'm hoping... a judge would see what I'm trying to say, it's impossible you can't put this on me because I had nothing to do with it," Goldstone said. "It's not my fault."
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
