Editor: Re: “RV parking issue brought up again,” (The Times, Jan. 19).
Last year, we had all we could take, and couldn’t take no more. It had got to the point where almost all you could see when driving up our street were gleaming white fifth wheel trailers and behemoth motor homes. You could barely see the roofline of houses behind them.
Trailers to the left of us trailers to the right, trailers to the front. Of course, since all the driveways were filled with trailers, cars could not access their garages nor park in driveways. Instead cars lined the streets, with few spots to spare. For 10 months of the year, up and down the street trailers and motor homes were slumbering under a rainbow of shabby tarpaulins.
Thanks to other neighbours on our street with similar views on the subject and bylaws which are in place to prevent the problem, we are now back to a street where front gardens can be enjoyed, cars can park in their respective driveways and once again it is attractive.
I suppose it would be one thing if Langley were still a rural community of expansive properties. However, this is increasingly not the case any more. Neighbourhoods are densifying and streetscapes are being shared by more people.
Trailers and motor home storage on postage stamp driveways or front lawns no longer works from a community level.
Got a fifth wheel or motor home? Commercial storage is simply one of the numerous expenses one needs to accept for the luxury of ownership.
It is the imposition on those neighbours and the consequent devaluation of their properties, brought about by being encased by neighbours’ trailers, which abrogates rights, not the other way around.
Some of our neighbours suspected that I was one of the people who asked that the bylaw be enforced, which caused them to have to relocate their trailers. They got themselves in an inebriated froth one night and threw the refuse from my garbage containers across my driveway.
One of them treated my wife and I to a colourful verbal assault, and the police were required to remove them from our property. In light of this, and in the interest of keeping our persons and property safe, keeping our name anonymous if you choose to print this would be appreciated.
Name withheld