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THE HER ALP May by Lynn Herald Stall Reporter Willow Park for mobile homes a nice place to visit and who wouldnt want to live there Theres no hassles here like in an apartment Kids and pets are allowed and theres no leases Willow Park resident Bill Living here a like being at the cottage all year round he added Tucked beside Highway Seven in Norvnl Willow Park is situated in he valley where the Credit River meets the Silver Creek below a shelter of hilts A road paved and winding leads off the highway to the park The best part of my whole day said Mr Boyd a commuter to Toronto is looking down the hill away from the highway at mobile home Soon 111 be and this will be our retirement home he continued If I need help with anything I know I can knock on any door here and no one would deny me Theres a special corps here thats hard to come by these days Being a ten year veteran of Willow Park Boyd knows what living in a mobile home community is all about and enjoys it and enjoys It The have gradually modernized their mobile home during the decade they have lived in it We have all the subdivision and more he said There a large filmic air conditioning music piped into every room a bar an foot deep pool beside the patio an custom built along the full width of one wall But this is only the of mobile homes said Boyd modestly Visit Duncan if you the Cadillac of mobile homes has a spacious two bedroom with a den a modern kitchen dining area overlooking a sunken and a three piece bathroom large enough to accommodate a washer and Forme this place is i middle until 1 Have enough money to down house explained Since private businessman This is a starter for many oh served Willow Park owner Norm Gulhrie Living here gives a couple a chance lo up a nesl egg For lots averaging feet wide by to 100 feet long Guthrie charges to Sill monthly rent All heat and telephone In lieu of yearly per lol Now comparing the would have to pay for house mobile home hum all We used to live in a high rise and were trying to save for a house liul ihire was no said Bill father of one living here is a lol cheaper If we re ever going lo keep people going in this country believes Gulhrie Well need more mobile home parks According statistics published in Ihe November issue of Municipal World in December 1971 there wire mobile homes in parks in British Columbia in the prairies 11 197 in manlimes Quebec and in Ontario The tend has not changed By the end Of 1573 one out of every five housing starts in of mobile homes in Ontario increased at a slower rate than those in other provin ce the percentage of mobile homes in parks Ontario remained percent in 1974 still well below die national average of per cent continues Ihe report and figures The parks in Ontario are far from the Toronto hub urea where Ihey arc frowned upon said Guthrie who named and Woodstock as clues close to mobile home communities Near Toronto when Ihe housing is most crucial and the jobs plentiful mobile home parks from March to November said wife Pearl I gel a week from people looking for pork heir trailer But here no loom Willow Park con sisting of only SB acres of land is only licenced accommodate 16 mobile homes and a lime lutiil is set for campers in he Since Guthrie was unable to in the permanent mobile home park market in Southern Ontario he both a demand and need for A few years ago he presented his plans park to some oi the local unofficially They go for it ottered build and donate school in he vicinity of die park Win Guthrie believes that people generally have a preconceived negative image of mobile home parks Local politicians are uneducated as wtmuhey are he said the people own their own they have pride in hem and take There no shack town deals here Sure of the newer are better planned and belter kept than the older ones just like suhurbs there good and bad Ontario Housing example slums ve ever seen During the four and a half years lias owned Willow none of he luive ever been on welfare or Ihe terms of Ihe Landlord and are not applicable to mobile homes Guthrie the aulhonlv i who disrespect he property lie ha only evicted one family on different ground Guthrie tenants follow simple rules dogs are leashed cars drive slowly lawns are mowed and yards are he snow repairs the road and generally maintains he properly him self IF a mobile home Is sold ap proval of Ihe new tenants Is necessary to ensure hat they are responsible people However unblemished the reputation of Willow Park Guthrie was that his chances of getting the required authorization to put his plans for a park project into would be slim Its a ticklish Issue commented town planner Mario Vendild Finding a suitable location for such an expansive park seems to be the greatcsl difficulty There no room in the metropolitan housing is most needed Many people feel that mobile home low aeslhctic value and would degrade he property value in a suburb or outskirts of a hi said You can put a mobile home beside a home agrees Guthrie rherc should be a buffer area What lies beyond buffer art lilies and owns in Southern Ontario High priced farmland conservation ureas or wilderness swamps and bush hydro water roads or sewage facilities s proposed park project be expensive but his offer still holds Deputy lown Grant Usher said there was no policy on mobile home parks bill a 97 bylaw 75 stales hat no trailers ire allowed to locale except in licensed trailer tamps Guthrie sees hope in attaining municipal consent expand Willow Park either He would like have Ins properly re zoned so he could convert the campsites into lots for permanent mobile homes With all his red ape how did Willow Park ever get established was unplanned Before regulations existed il gradually developed mil of a demand or mobile home space As far back The mobile home controversy Living in Halton Hills