Campbell River man upset by neighbour’s shipping container

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WATCH: A Campbell River resident is upset by the view he’s had to endure for the past few months. He doesn’t like looking at the 14-metre-long, shipping container his neighbours have sitting in their yard. He’s delivered a 32-name petition to the city council and he’s hoping for change. Kendall Hanson reports.

For the past two months, Eric Carlson has had this view from his Campbellton neighbourhood yard of a 14-metre by three-metre shipping container.

“I don’t want it,” said Carlson. “I don’t know anyone that’s a taxpayer in Campbell River that would want that beside their house.”

It led Carlson to gather a 32-name petition which he presented to the Campbell River City Council this past week. It asks that shipping containers remain on residential properties no longer than three months.

“It’s unsightly,” said Carlson. “It’s just like people that won’t keep their weeds and grass cut in their yard.”

But the feud between these neighbours started before that. Both admit the RCMP has attended disputes between them on at least three occasions. Among other issues, Carlson is upset they’ve been using their home as a taxi company dispatch since late June.

“I don’t care who it is that owns the house. I don’t want a taxi business beside my home.”

He’s detailed taxis coming and going. The city gave his neighbours a $200 fine for allegedly breaking a bylaw as a result.

His neighbour says both issues are related to the fire that severely damaged the Quinsam hotel.

“The dispatch office for the taxi company was in the back of the Quinny,” said neighbour Christena Ramirez-Knott. “So when it burned down we needed an area to temporarily dispatch out of.”

And the shipping container is holding what they were able to salvage from the fire.

“We’re not breaking any laws,” said Ramirez-Knott. “I’m allowed to have it here. I checked with bylaws so temporarily it’s here. The taxi cab moves into their new location Friday, the 20th, and this [shipping container] will be gone in the spring.”

Campbell River’s mayor Andy Adams says the shipping containers are unsightly and their presence on residential properties has been a source of complaints for years. The petition prompted city council to ask for a staff report on what, if anything, should be done.

Both neighbours remain unhappy with the other. Both are talking about moving while wishing for different people to live beside.

Kendall HansonKendall Hanson

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