It was another day and another cleanup of a homeless encampment in Nanaimo.
Community safety officers, RCMP officers and city workers took part in clearing out an extensive encampment established on the embankment between the E&N Railway tracks and the Nanaimo Curling Centre on Wednesday, Aug. 9.
The camp spread across more than 200 metres north of Comox Road and featured reinforced trails and stairways cut into the bank, connecting a network of campsites and even included safety features, such as tripping hazards sprayed with day glow orange paint. The camp is one of several that occupy the bank behind the curling club and Caledonia Park sports field, which will have field lighting and security systems installed by the end of summer.
Crews on scene said at least three small dump trucks were required to haul out debris and materials that included plywood, lumber, broken camping gear, bike frames and scrap metal and even an electric scooter. They also said residents of the camp had been given advance notice about the clean-up operation and were advised to leave.
Shannon Moore and Adam Collishaw, two of the CSOs involved in the cleanup operation, said the main concern with the camp was the trail system causing erosion of the embankment and runoff into the creek.
“The creek at the bottom flows into the Millstone River and everything from here flows down into it,” Moore said. “It’s a large environmental concern.”
There was also evidence, in the form of charred tree trunks, of fires that had broken out in various locations along the rail corridor land.
“There were 13 tents situated over three sites, some which were situated on the railway right-of-way,” said Dave LaBerge, the City of Nanaimo’s director of bylaw services, in an e-mail, adding that Southern Railway of Vancouver Island would be bringing in a train-mounted crane to clean up some of the remaining debris.
“It’s my understanding that some stolen property was located which has been seized by the RCMP,” LaBerge said. “We do get complaints from the community when this many camps build up in one area of a park, and there have been break-ins and vandalism incidents at Caledonia stadium.”
READ ALSO: Encampment along Nanaimo’s Millstone River being cleared out
chris.bush@nanaimobulletin.com
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