Kathie and Gord Haidon can understand the Maple Ridge bylaw’s department desire for them to get rid of a storage container that’s been occupying the corner of their backyard for three years.
Whether they have enough time, however, will determine if they get slapped with a fine from the bylaws department.
“We’re just working people with three kids. I don’t know why they’re harassing us. It’s ridiculous,” Kathie said last week.
The Haidons live on 228th Street, just north of Dewdney Trunk Road, and need the container to store tools and equipment.
If they get the approval to build a ‘granny’ suite, combined with a workshop, in their back yard, they’ll no longer need the container and it can be removed.
But getting a permit for the granny suite could depend on them first removing the container. Kathie points out, the District of Maple Ridge has no bylaw that covers containers.
She and her husband wanted to challenge a $500 ticket from the district in Port Coquitlam provincial court last August, only to find the ticket was withdrawn.
Last Friday, two bylaw officers showed up and checked out the container and, again, and told her they’re investigating to see if they’re able to force her to remove it.
But there’s no bylaw that covers a container, she reiterated.